The Light Show

“And no wonder! For Satan himself is disguised as an angel of light. So it is no great thing if his servants disguise themselves as servants of righteousness. Their destiny will be according to their works.” (2 Corinthians 11:14-15 CSB)

One species of bird does not build a nest. It doesn’t have to. This bird finds a nest that has freshly laid eggs, and while the mother is away, this one goes to the nest and deposits one egg. This bird is larger than others, so the egg is a little larger, but not much. The baby bird that hatches from that egg will also be bigger than the others. When the other bird returns to the nest, it continues sitting on the eggs until they all hatch, and, “Wow, that’s a big baby bird there!” The larger baby bird ends up getting most or all of the food the mother brings, so usually all of the other baby birds die of starvation.

The church at Corinth had a problem with false teachers and false apostles who had infiltrated the church. These men came with what appeared to be teachings that were right on target. They actually came as self-serving men who taught ideas similar to the gospel, but with fundamental differences. Their teachings appeared just similar enough to be acceptable, but the impact of this was devastating to the church. So, Paul had to confront this development head on.

In doing so, Paul noted an important truth we need to keep aware of. Satan masquerades as an angel of light. He is a deceiver. He represents himself as enlightenment. He seeks to undermine the truth of the gospel of self-serving purposes by acknowledging some portion of truth, but then taking it in a direction that leads away from the truth. His servants appear to be agents of righteousness.

A number of christian-like organizations proclaim teachings that “sound” a lot like the real Christian message. They purposely seek to hook Christians with this "bait" in order to reel them into their self-serving organizations and purposes. Their public advertizing and persona appear genuine and oriented toward serving people’s needs, and undoubtedly they believe that what they teach is correct. In reality, however, they will either take away a central teaching of the Christian faith or add something significant to it in order to proselytize Christians. This is actually nothing more than Satan radiating his “light.”

It is important that we know this, be aware of it, and understand that sometimes Satan is not just a roaring lion looking for someone to devour, but he may also appear to be an angel of light, but with the same purpose as the lion.

Be aware.

Father, Our desire to remain true to You and Your truths, so that we may accurately represent You to the world. Help us to base our beliefs entirely on Your word, nothing more and nothing less. Amen.