The Devil in Disguise

You know, my pastor gave a really excellent bible study on last night and it really sparked a thought that I want to share here.  Satan is a master of disguise.  The bible says in 2 Corinthians 11:4 that he disguises himself as an angel of light.  The Greek word for “disguises” is metaschématizó meaning to change the outer appearance.  The devil wants more than anything to be validated and believed so he changes shape and form to try and fit in.  As Christians we need to be wary and vigilant as it relates to allowing Satan to use us to validate him!  Satan even sought validation for his sick rebellion by trying to get Jesus to worship him in the wilderness (see Luke 4).   

Let’s look at a scripture here in 1 Samuel 13 and walk through it so that you can see what I mean.  Before we look at the scripture, let’s set it up:  The context for this particular passage is a royal split.  Rehoboam (son of Solomon) is on the verge of having the unified kingdom ripped away from him.  Solomon’s sin coupled with his son’s insolence led to a split in the kingdom.  While unified under Solomon, God’s punishment was that the kingdom would be taken away from his son and eventually split in two.  Judah and Benjamin made up the Southern kingdom (Judah) and the other ten tribes (Joseph, Levi, Dan, Napthali, Issachar, Gad, Asher, Simeon, Zebulun, Reuben) tribes made up the Northern kingdom (Israel). 

God sent a prophet to speak out against Jeroboam who eventually took over as king of the Northern kingdom (for more scripture regarding the split of the kingdoms see 1 Kings 12; 2 Chronicles 10-12).   Jeroboam was terrible.  He called his own priests, built a counterfeit temple and worshipped idols.  Although unnamed in scripture, the first century historian Josephus knew this story and attached a name to the prophet in this story.  His name was Jodan.  God gave Jodan specific instructions on how to deal with Jeroboam and what to say (1 Kings 13:1-3).  When Jeroboam got upset with the prophet, he stretched his hand out against him but God shriveled Jeroboam’s hand and at the same time the sign that the prophet promised as fulfillment of his prophecy (altar split and ashes poured off of it) occurred.
It gets interesting after the prophet heals Jeroboam’s withered hand.  Jeroboam invites the prophet into his home but the prophet refused, citing God’s specific instruction (1 Kings 13:7-10):

“’The king said to the man of God, “Come home with me for a meal, and I will give you a gift.” But the man of God answered the king, “Even if you were to give me half your possessions, I would not go with you, nor would I eat bread or drink water here.  For I was commanded by the word of the Lord: ‘You must not eat bread or drink water or return by the way you came.’ ”  So he took another road and did not return by the way he had come to Bethel.”

God’s instructions were clear.  Don’t take anything from anyone, don’t eat any bread, don’t drink any water and don’t go home the same way that you came.  This was God’s direct word to the prophet Jodan.  It should have been settled and sealed.  With this in mind, let’s turn our attention to the second part of this story and let’s see how Satan counterfeits himself, deceives us and in the process causes destruction in our lives. 

As the prophet is on his way back to Judah, there were some “spies” there at the temple who went home and reported what they saw to their father.  Their father just happened to be a “prophet”.  I put that in quotes because this old, dried up man was as fake as a 3 dollar bill.  After the report of his sons, he asks them to saddle the donkey so that he can go out and meet the prophet from Judah (1 Kings 13:11-13).

“Now there was a certain old prophet living in Bethel, whose sons came and told him all that the man of God had done there that day. They also told their father what he had said to the king. Their father asked them, “Which way did he go?” And his sons showed him which road the man of God from Judah had taken. So he said to his sons, “Saddle the donkey for me…”
Historians say that this prophet was bedridden but he got up when he heard that one of God’s true prophets was in town.  Worst of all, when he found Jodan the prophet he had two missions…1. to deceive him and 2. to boost his own credibility at the expense of Jodan’s life. 

Let’s take a look at verse 13b-19:

"And when they had saddled the donkey for him, he mounted it and rode after the man of God. He found him sitting under an oak tree and asked, “Are you the man of God who came from Judah?”  “I am,” he replied.  So the prophet said to him, “Come home with me and eat.”  The man of God said, “I cannot turn back and go with you, nor can I eat bread or drink water with you in this place.  I have been told by the word of the Lord: ‘You must not eat bread or drink water there or return by the way you came.’ ”  The old prophet answered, “I too am a prophet, as you are. And an angel said to me by the word of the Lord: ‘Bring him back with you to your house so that he may eat bread and drink water.’ ” (But he was lying to him.)  So the man of God returned with him and ate and drank in his house."

Look at this very carefully.  The old prophet tried to get Jodan to come with him.  I wondered why and then it hit me.  If he could get Jodan to his home, he would have instant credibility in the eyes of those who viewed him as a false prophet.  Surely they had either heard or seen what happened with Jeroboam in the temple.  The devil is crafty.  This happens every day.  Fake preachers try to sneak in to unsuspecting churches and sit in the same pulpit as reputable pastors in order to boost their own stock with men;  Unrepentant friends, who have no intention of repenting, like to hang around and corrupt their Christian friends that are actually trying to live a holy life; Drug dealers donate huge sums of money to churches (I have seen it happen) in order to connect themselves with that church and somehow come across as a “Robin Hood” of sorts.  Satan wants to sneak in to validate himself and in the process discredit us!

When he couldn’t flip Jodan initially, he went into his religious spiel and said that he was also a “prophet” and that an angel told him to bring Jodan home and give him bread and water.  All he did was repeat what Jodan had already said!  He didn’t know anything, only what he heard.  Here is a wonderful opportunity to discredit the devil.  Many times we give him too much credit.  We think he knows everything but in reality, he only overhears.  God is the only omniscient being in the universe.  See, the old prophet wrapped his lie in the truth.    Many folks get duped every day by psychics and false prophets, who are fed your personal information that you give to an operator (which gets fed to them) while on hold.  E. Bernard Jordan and his son Manasseh come to mind here (NOTE: as I type this, there is a commercial on TV for California Psychics…thanks for the confirmation Holy Ghost).  They use loaded questions and wait for you to answer and piggy back of what you tell them.  Ms. Cleo (Call me now!) was a fraud and every one of these “palm readers” is just faking.  Even if the old prophet heard from an angel, the angel’s word would not have contradicted God’s word!

There is also something to be said here for the faith of the prophet Jodan.  He was obviously not very confident in God’s command to him to forego eating and drinking there in Israel.  He went against God’s word because he was subtly duped by this older, slicker and more experienced false prophet.  Does this not scream Ephesians 4:14?  the old prophet blew in a new wind and Jodan was tossed by it, never once testing this "new revelation" in light of what God had already said.  To further illustrate the point of Satan wanting to be validated, the older prophet, after Jodan was killed by a lion for disobeying God, knowing that Jodan was a true prophet and asked to be buried next to him! 

Verse 31,32: “After burying him, he said to his sons, “When I die, bury me in the grave where the man of God is buried; lay my bones beside his bones.  For the message he declared by the word of the Lord against the altar in Bethel and against all the shrines on the high places in the towns of Samaria will certainly come true.”

Here is how the devil works.  He lures you in, he discredits you, he causes destruction and then moves on to the next victim.  This old prophet was the reason for Jodan being killed and yet asked to be buried next to him!  I guess he wanted everyone to say at his death, “he was a good man; he is buried next to a true man of God”.  My advice is this: 1. IF God has spoken to you, anything else that comes from Him will be confirmation, not contradictory.  2. Be confident in God’s word and do not waver from it, even if there is an angel (i.e. a pastor, a religious man/woman- you know how we get lured in when we think someone is "spiritual") to tell you something new!  Satan was an angel so it’s obvious that they aren’t to be trusted over the Lord, if the Lord has spoken FIRST!  [NOTE: Gabriel announced to Mary the birth of Jesus- this was received initially from an angel, not after an initial word from God.  Daniel received the answer to his prayer from Gabriel, who spoke FROM God to Daniel] 3. Do not allow a counterfeit to hang on to you or use you to validate himself/herself.  I am not advocating not associating with “sinners” i.e. those that are actively engaged in unapologetically sinful lifestyles [yes we are all sinners] because you might be the only way they hear the gospel.  Jesus ate with “sinners and tax collectors” and he calls us to be light and salt in a dark world.  But I am talking about those people that are not even trying to do what’s proper in God’s sight and have no intention of getting saved, repenting....nothing!  The ones that use you as their lucky rabbit’s foot thinking that some blessing might fall their way if they just hang with you!  That might happen but it won’t happen very often! 

Be sober and alert because our adversary, the devil, roams around like a roaring lion seeking whom he may devour!  Keep your discernment at a maximum (Hebrews 5:14) and always be ready to test the spirit to see if it is from God (.  May God’s grace and peace be upon you.