Substitutes of Satan

As we know, Satan always does the opposite of what God does. Satan creates substitutes for the promises of God and the commands of God. He takes the truth of God and turns it into lies. He takes the holy things of God and creates his own unholy versions. He does this in an effort to prove that his ways are true, and God’s ways are false. We witness this in the book of Job.

Job was righteous and perfect in the Lord’s sight. The Lord Himself declares this to Satan.

Job 1:8 “And the LORD said unto Satan, Hast thou considered my servant Job, that there is none like him in the earth, a perfect and an upright man, one that feareth God, and escheweth evil?”

Job 2:3 “And the LORD said unto Satan, Hast thou considered my servant Job, that there is none like him in the earth, a perfect and an upright man, one that feareth God, and escheweth evil? and still he holdeth fast his integrity, although thou movedst me against him, to destroy him without cause.”

After God declares that Job is perfect, Satan asks to test Job and the Lord allows it.

Job 1:9-11 “Then Satan answered the LORD, and said, Doth Job fear God for nought? Hast not thou made an hedge about him, and about his house, and about all that he hath on every side? thou hast blessed the work of his hands, and his substance is increased in the land. But put forth thine hand now, and touch all that he hath, and he will curse thee to thy face.”

First, Satan moves the enemies of God to take all Job’s possessions, his servants, and his children were killed by a “great wind”. Job’s response was reflective of the righteous man he was.

Job 1:15-19 “And the Sabeans fell upon them, and took them away; yea, they have slain the servants with the edge of the sword; and I only am escaped alone to tell thee. While he was yet speaking, there came also another, and said, The fire of God is fallen from heaven, and hath burned up the sheep, and the servants, and consumed them; and I only am escaped alone to tell thee. While he was yet speaking, there came also another, and said, The Chaldeans made out three bands, and fell upon the camels, and have carried them away, yea, and slain the servants with the edge of the sword; and I only am escaped alone to tell thee. While he was yet speaking, there came also another, and said, Thy sons and thy daughters were eating and drinking wine in their eldest brother’s house: And, behold, there came a great wind from the wilderness, and smote the four corners of the house, and it fell upon the young men, and they are dead; and I only am escaped alone to tell thee.”

But in all of these afflictions, Job remained faithful.

Job 1:20-22 “Then Job arose, and rent his mantle, and shaved his head, and fell down upon the ground, and worshipped, And said, Naked came I out of my mother’s womb, and naked shall I return thither: the LORD gave, and the LORD hath taken away; blessed be the name of the LORD. In all this Job sinned not, nor charged God foolishly.”

Satan then proceeded to afflict Job with painful sores and other things. His reasoning went something like this: “Well, yeah, of course he still worships you, Lord! Every man would willingly give up his possessions to save his life! But every man will curse you to your face if his personal safety and health are at risk!”

Job 2:4-6 “And Satan answered the LORD, and said, Skin for skin, yea, all that a man hath will he give for his life. But put forth thine hand now, and touch his bone and his flesh, and he will curse thee to thy face. And the LORD said unto Satan, Behold, he is in thine hand; but save his life.”

Through all this, Job remained faithful. Even his wife questioned why Job didn’t curse God. In fact, she urged him to curse God so that he would stop suffering and die.

Job 2:9-10 “Then said his wife unto him, Dost thou still retain thine integrity? curse God, and die. But he said unto her, Thou speakest as one of the foolish women speaketh. What? shall we receive good at the hand of God, and shall we not receive evil? In all this did not Job sin with his lips.”

Satan wanted to substitute trust and faith with resentment and doubt. But we are not doing a thorough study of Job today. I only bring up Job to show the reasoning behind Satan’s need to create distractions and substitutions. Job was perfect in the sight of God because he obeyed God and rejected evil substitutions. And THAT is what we are here to focus on: different distractions and identifying the substitutions of Satan. He wanted Job to focus on his pains and sufferings so that he would abandon hope and lose faith in God. Sound familiar? Pain, in whatever form it takes, is a valuable weapon for the enemy because it is so effective at causing us to walk away from God. And like we just read, Satan will even move the ones closest to us to use misguided love and compassion to guide us away from God.

Entertainment is Satan’s substitute for joy. Now, let me be clear, there is a massive difference between being entertained and being blessed with God’s joy. Entertainment is just distraction from chasing God. The more joy we have in the Lord, the less entertainment we crave or need. Let me give an example: when either running errands or simply looking out the window, God has provided joy in the small things and great things.

However, as Satan has corrupted society, the joys of the Lord have become a nuisance. Even when we do notice the beauty of creation, it’s usually in passing. It normally goes something like this: “That’s a pretty tree … but if I don’t hurry, I’m gonna miss the movie!”

What is the basic form of joy? The basic form of joy is happiness! In the world, one would figure that with so many forms of entertainment, the world would be in a permanent state of happiness and peace. But it’s not … why? In its purest way of understanding, the answer is because the temporary pleasures we receive from entertainment are from Satan. The happiness we are given from God is life changing and lasts all day long. So, how exactly do we gain this happiness and where can it be found?

Psalm 146:5 “Happy is he that hath the God of Jacob for his help, whose hope is in the LORD his God:”

Proverbs 14:21 “He that despiseth his neighbour sinneth: but he that hath mercy on the poor, happy is he.”

Proverbs 16:20 “He that handleth a matter wisely shall find good: and whoso trusteth in the LORD, happy is he.”

Proverbs 28:14 “Happy is the man that feareth alway: but he that hardeneth his heart shall fall into mischief.”

Proverbs 29:18 “Where there is no vision, the people perish: but he that keepeth the law, happy is he.”

James 5:11 “Behold, we count them happy which endure. Ye have heard of the patience of Job, and have seen the end of the Lord; that the Lord is very pitiful, and of tender mercy.”

1 Peter 4:13 “But rejoice, inasmuch as ye are partakers of Christ’s sufferings; that, when his glory shall be revealed, ye may be glad also with exceeding joy.”

In short, happiness is gained through obedience to the Lord!

In reality, the only reason people seek out entertainment is to find some form of happiness. Even when the argument is made, “That’s not true, I watch TV because I’m bored”. It still remains true that TV (or other entertainment sources) is used in an attempt to replace that boredom with temporary happiness.

We are constantly trying to fill the void in our hearts with anything other than God. Satan is constantly telling us that the Bible is too boring, too difficult to understand, so we might as well go do something that makes us happy.

To believe happiness can be gained from a source other than God (and this includes from people) is the same thing as believing we can eat and drink toxic waste and become superheroes! There is VERY good reason stories like that exist only in the fictional realms of comic books, movies, and TV shows … which are, once again, forms of entertainment craftily designed by the enemy.

Most of the substitutions of the enemy happen internally. One thing Satan does routinely is cause confusion. Always remember that confusion does not come from God.

1 Corinthians 14:33 “For God is not the author of confusion, but of peace, as in all churches of the saints.”

One of the more prominent methods Satan uses to cause confusion is through the news. Without getting too in depth about all the evils of news broadcasts, I would like to explain how the news is bad for us.

But before going any further, I want to make sure to say that watching the news or reading newspapers and searching the internet, on their own, is not a bad thing. In fact, it is our job to watch the events of the world unfold so that, with real understanding of the prophecies, we are better able to warn others. We are told repeatedly in the Word to always be “watching”.

Matthew 24:42 “Watch therefore: for ye know not what hour your Lord doth come.”

Matthew 25:13 “Watch therefore, for ye know neither the day nor the hour wherein the Son of man cometh.”

Mark 13:33-37 “Take ye heed, watch and pray: for ye know not when the time is. For the Son of man is as a man taking a far journey, who left his house, and gave authority to his servants, and to every man his work, and commanded the porter to watch. Watch ye therefore: for ye know not when the master of the house cometh, at even, or at midnight, or at the cockcrowing, or in the morning: Lest coming suddenly he find you sleeping. And what I say unto you I say unto all, Watch.”

Time and time again, Jesus Himself commands us to be observant and look for the prophetic signs of His return. We are told that if we are unobservant, we will end up being caught off guard when Jesus comes back. And the only way to prevent this is to continually be aware.

1 Thessalonians 5:2-6 “For yourselves know perfectly that the day of the Lord so cometh as a thief in the night. For when they shall say, Peace and safety; then sudden destruction cometh upon them, as travail upon a woman with child; and they shall not escape. But ye, brethren, are not in darkness, that that day should overtake you as a thief. Ye are all the children of light, and the children of the day: we are not of the night, nor of darkness. Therefore let us not sleep, as do others; but let us watch and be sober.”

My point is: Watching the news is not necessarily a bad thing … BUT … watching the news without spiritual protection from God is an EXTREMELY dangerous thing to do! If we have not fully submitted ourselves to the will of God, then we have no protection at all! Never ever forget that we cannot protect ourselves. The only protection we have is God Himself!

Proverbs 18:10 “The name of the LORD is a strong tower: the righteous runneth into it, and is safe.”

Proverbs 21:31 “The horse is prepared against the day of battle: but safety is of the LORD.”

Besides the fact that newscasters spew lies continuously, mainstream news sources are dangerous because of the utter confusion they cause. This confusion leads the unprotected mind to view news outlets as something trustworthy and reliable. At some point, we become snared, or trapped, into relying on these news sources to provide us with the information we need.

The confusion wrought upon us by these news sources shifts our perspective. This shift in focus and perspective keeps us reliant on what man says, instead of what God says in His Word!

Do you know what the word “gospel” means? It means “good news”! Why would we trust what man says on the news? Most people already know that the news people are liars, so why listen to, watch, or read lies when the good news of God’s Word is right in front of us?

Romans 3:4 “God forbid: yea, let God be true, but every man a liar; as it is written, That thou mightest be justified in thy sayings, and mightest overcome when thou art judged.”

The Word of God, which NEVER lies, has already told us to never trust what man says. The lies of the world only serve to keep us in darkness. But the Word of God is our light in this darkened world.

Psalm 119:105 “Thy word is a lamp unto my feet, and a light unto my path.”

Psalm 119:130 “The entrance of thy words giveth light; it giveth understanding unto the simple.”

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Exodus 5:6-9 “And Pharaoh commanded the same day the taskmasters of the people, and their officers, saying, Ye shall no more give the people straw to make brick, as heretofore: let them go and gather straw for themselves. And the tale of the bricks, which they did make heretofore, ye shall lay upon them; ye shall not diminish ought thereof: for they be idle; therefore they cry, saying, Let us go and sacrifice to our God. Let there more work be laid upon the men, that they may labour therein; and let them not regard vain words.”

In place of the joy that comes with salvation, the enemy substitutes with doubt, punishment, hardship, labor, and burden. Shortsightedness, failing to walk by faith and only walking by sight, will always end in pain. It is that pain that Satan wants everyone to set their focus upon.

Exodus 5:21 “And they said unto them, The LORD look upon you, and judge; because ye have made our savour to be abhorred in the eyes of Pharaoh, and in the eyes of his servants, to put a sword in their hand to slay us.”

Satan shifts blame. This is a common tactic he uses because it works so well. Just look at how governments the world over operate. Here are two examples of what I mean. The Reichstag building in Nazi Germany and the World Trade Center buildings on 9/11. In both cases, what the powers that be needed was a scapegoat … a group of people that they could blame for their own transgressions.

This tactic is typical of Satan because he understands what the scapegoat represents on the Day of Atonement. He knows perfectly well that the scapegoat, upon whom all the sins of repentant Israel were laid, represented him. While at the same time the Lord’s goat symbolized the sacrifice and atoning blood of Jesus Christ for all who submit their lives to Him. The enemy of souls knows that as the scapegoat was led into the wilderness for a time until it died, so too will he be led into the wilderness during the 1000 years until the time comes that he should die. He is worthy to be blamed for all the sins of mankind as he is the originator and provocateur of all sin.

And so, he has taught all of mankind to shift the blame upon the innocent as a corrupted version of what was done on the Day of Atonement where the blame was placed upon the guilty. But God cannot be mocked … He well knows who is at fault and Satan, his demons, and all who have refused to accept the atoning blood of Jesus Christ will have to pay for their sins with their own blood.

So, it’s no mistake that the people of Israel placed guilt upon the Moses and blamed him for their increased hardships. They could not yet see the deliverance of the Lord … they could only see their problems. And this is PRECISELY what Satan wants! He doesn’t want anyone to see the wonderful saving grace of their Saviour; he only wants them to substitute the joy they ought to have, with the burdens that result from salvation.

To that end, Christianity is viewed as more of a restriction, a cage that prevents people from having fun or experiencing happiness. The enemy has convinced countless precious souls of the lie that holding the faith of Jesus Christ is just following a list of do’s and don’ts. They see the commands of God as something that deprives people of joy. The restrictive cage they perceive is the safety we declare.

As the cage itself protects the little creature from anything and everything that would seek to kill it, so too are we protected by the boundaries the Lord has put in place. And just like the little animals who refuse to enter the protection of a cage, those that refuse to enter into the protective walls of the Lord will easily be snatched up by the predators. In short, where the disobedient see nothing but restriction, we only see the Lord’s loving protection. And where the disobedient see freedom, we see Satan’s killing fields.

Probably the main substitution Satan has made is that of trusting our own wisdom above that of God. We live in an age of increased knowledge. This is obvious. The age of increased knowledge we live in was prophesied to be this way.

Daniel 12:4 “But thou, O Daniel, shut up the words, and seal the book, even to the time of the end: many shall run to and fro, and knowledge shall be increased.”

Though this time of increased knowledge has been a tremendous blessing for the servants of God, Satan has used this period of human history to cause many to stray from the truth. Notably, this fall has come from the medical and scientific communities.

Did you know that most everything we learn from these so-called “intellectuals” is nothing more than theory? And what is a theory? A theory is nothing more than a guess! The real problem is that people base entire systems of belief on these guesses. They use the guesswork of unfaithful scientists to declare that God doesn’t exist! How conceited, arrogant, and prideful can people be to think and believe that they are wiser than the God of Creation!?

Proverbs 26:12 “Seest thou a man wise in his own conceit? there is more hope of a fool than of him.”

Just think about this mentality for a minute. They are actually studying the majesty of creation to prove there is no Creator! This is confusion of the highest order!

The more knowledge man receives, the more confused and conceited he becomes. Why? It is because people are using this knowledge to glorify themselves instead of glorifying God … which is the height of conceit. Glorifying their own accomplishments, praising their own good deeds, resting in their own strengths, claiming they don’t need God, or thinking they can do better than God … are fruits of Satan alone!

Ezekiel 28:17-18 “Thine heart was lifted up because of thy beauty, thou hast corrupted thy wisdom by reason of thy brightness: I will cast thee to the ground, I will lay thee before kings, that they may behold thee. Thou hast defiled thy sanctuaries by the multitude of thine iniquities, by the iniquity of thy traffick; therefore will I bring forth a fire from the midst of thee, it shall devour thee, and I will bring thee to ashes upon the earth in the sight of all them that behold thee.”

Isaiah 14:12-14 “How art thou fallen from heaven, O Lucifer, son of the morning! how art thou cut down to the ground, which didst weaken the nations! For thou hast said in thine heart, I will ascend into heaven, I will exalt my throne above the stars of God: I will sit also upon the mount of the congregation, in the sides of the north: I will ascend above the heights of the clouds; I will be like the most High.”

Let’s face facts. Though every medical and scientific journal may say the opposite of what our Lord has declared, He will be justified in the end. Scientifically speaking, was it possible for the Red Sea to split and turn to dry ground? No. Scientifically speaking, was it possible for Moses to know each and every plague of Egypt in chronological order and know exactly when they would come? No. Moreover, was it scientifically possible for each of those plagues to end precisely when Moses said they would? No. Medically speaking, was it possible for Sarah and Elizabeth to conceive at such old ages? No. To that end, medically speaking, was it possible for Mary to conceive while being a virgin? No.

The wisdom of man has never mattered to the omnipresent, omnipotent, omniscient Godhead. The Lord has already said that the wisdom of man is foolishness in His sight.

1 Corinthians 1:19-20 “For it is written, I will destroy the wisdom of the wise, and will bring to nothing the understanding of the prudent. Where is the wise? where is the scribe? where is the disputer of this world? hath not God made foolish the wisdom of this world?”

Though medical study after medical study “proves” that the vaccine is “safe and effective”, the Lord has told us what’s really going on. Let every so-called educated and practiced medical professional come with all their credentials and mountains of paperwork. Let them surround us with all this so-called “evidence” … we will show them the Word of God which supersedes everything they have to say. Their paperwork is nothing more than tinder which is good for nothing but to start the fires of iniquity.

But please pray for them. They have been indoctrinated by their own schools, professors, teachers, mentors, friends, and family to believe in the power of man’s inventions rather than in the longsuffering and protective nature of God.

Psalm 106:29 “Thus they provoked him to anger with their inventions: and the plague brake in upon them.”

Psalm 106:39 “Thus were they defiled with their own works, and went a whoring with their own inventions.”

Ecclesiastes 7:29 “Lo, this only have I found, that God hath made man upright; but they have sought out many inventions.”

Inventions (Psalms) – an act (good or bad), invention, work, practice (usually bad), deeds, acts.

Inventions (Ecclesiastes) – a contrivance that is actual warlike machine or mental invention, device, invention.

The final “substitution of Satan” I would like to discuss has to do with what we just discussed. The enemy has convinced literally billions that as long as they live by some sort of “moral code”, they are doing good enough, and that it doesn’t matter what the Bible says … especially when the Bible says something contradictory to their personal beliefs. Speaking about what the Bible says, what does the infallible Word of God say about this “moral code” mindset?

Proverbs 14:12 “There is a way which seemeth right unto a man, but the end thereof are the ways of death.”

Proverbs 16:25 “There is a way that seemeth right unto a man, but the end thereof are the ways of death.”

The problem with this “moral code” nonsense is that it places zero emphasis on the salvation offered to us by the blood of Christ and places 100% of the emphasis on the individual and what they, through their own power, can do by themselves. They are led to believe that “as long as I am a good, decent person, then that’s good enough!”

But there is a huge problem with this way of thinking. Those who live by some “moral code” never ask themselves one simple question … by what standard is my “moral code” measured? In other words, a “moral code” implies that there exists a system of measurement which defines right and wrong, good and bad.

And the Word of God is what tells us what is right and what is wrong!!!

Believing in a code of right and wrong which is not based on God’s Truth, is defined simply in one word: LIES! And who is it that was the first liar and convinces people that lies are acceptable?

John 8:44 “Ye are of your father the devil, and the lusts of your father ye will do. He was a murderer from the beginning, and abode not in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaketh a lie, he speaketh of his own: for he is a liar, and the father of it.”

It’s not like we weren’t warned about this age in human history where lies have become truth.

Isaiah 5:20 “Woe unto them that call evil good, and good evil; that put darkness for light, and light for darkness; that put bitter for sweet, and sweet for bitter!”

Romans 1:25 “Who changed the truth of God into a lie, and worshipped and served the creature more than the Creator, who is blessed for ever. Amen.”

Jesus Himself told us that it is Satan who is responsible for making the Word of God irrelevant in man’s heart.

Mark 4:15 “And these are they by the way side, where the word is sown; but when they have heard, Satan cometh immediately, and taketh away the word that was sown in their hearts.”

There are always going to be those whom Satan moves to anger at preaching like this. They want to defend their points without using a Bible, or they do use a Bible, just incorrectly. These methods are used because they do not love, accept, or care for the Truth. Because of this love for truth which has waxed cold, God has promised that His protection from lies would not be there for them.

2 Thessalonians 2:10-11 “And with all deceivableness of unrighteousness in them that perish; because they received not the love of the truth, that they might be saved. And for this cause God shall send them strong delusion, that they should believe a lie:”

The enemy will always try to attack us with lies and convince us that his substitutions are worth following. When he comes to us and tells us that something “feels better” than what God says, remember …

Jeremiah 17:10 “I the LORD search the heart, I try the reins, even to give every man according to his ways, and according to the fruit of his doings.”

It is in the Lord that the righteous walk. It is by His standard ALONE that they believe!

Proverbs 16:9 “A man’s heart deviseth his way: but the LORD directeth his steps.”

Jeremiah 10:23 “It is as sport to a fool to do mischief: but a man of understanding hath wisdom.”

In other words, it is the Lord alone who knows how we need to walk … not us.