In the very beginning of our Bible, we read about the first woman, Eve, being deceived by the serpent to eat the fruit God had specifically told her not to eat. That serpent was the devil. Deception was his tool. He made what was forbidden look so good that Eve was fooled.
And isn’t that what he still does today? The devil deceives us. He makes the very things that are bad for us look so good and so normal. Yet hiding behind our normal is a great danger.
The question is, where have you been deceived? What are you tiptoeing in that will Satan wants to trap you in? You’re not seeing that danger for what it really is. It’s not harmless. It’s deception and you are the one being deceived into the plan of the enemy who will have you forfeiting the fullness of life you were created for and instead have you trapped in a life of bondage, addiction, perversion and settling.
What is it that you do and then you dismiss it as normal because “everyone else does it”? If everyone else does it, then isn’t it a pattern of this world? God’s word tells me I’m not supposed to do what everyone else is doing. Romans 12:2, “Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is – his pleasing and perfect will.”
If you’re having trouble knowing what God’s will is and what he wants you to do, then check and see if you’re just doing what the rest of this world does and therefore being blocked by your own thoughts. The rest of the world is on their phones. The rest of the world spends hours scrolling. The rest of the word is checking boxes of obligation, going through the motions, but not fully engaged. God says you will be transformed and changed when you start thinking differently. The devil cannot deceive the mind that refuses to give in to the patterns of this world. And the mind that cannot be deceived is the life that can hear, know and follow God’s pleasing and perfect will.
Throughout the Bible, we see the effects of the deception of Satan. We see it show up in people who become prideful, people who decide to do things their own way, people who want more power and control, people who grow jealous, and people who just do what everyone else is doing. Eve was the first to be deceived, Adam was next. He ate the forbidden fruit because Eve was eating it.
Now, here we are in the very last book of the Bible and the enemy is still deceiving God’s people. He’s still doing his nasty work of making the wrong things look completely normal. That’s what’s happening in the city of Pergamum. So, Jesus tells John to write this letter to his people there. Revelation 2: 12-17:
Write this letter to the angel of the church of Pergamum. This is the message from the one with the sharp two-edged sword: (This means the one with God’s word. The one who knows the truth and speaks the truth. God’s word can cut through the layers of excuses and deception, all the way down to the truth.)
“I know that you live in the city where Satan has his throne, yet you have remained loyal to me.”
This city was under a stronghold of Satan. And my guess is, most everyone living there thought it was all just normal.
“You refused to deny me even when Antipas, my faithful witness, was martyred among you there in Satan’s city. But I have a few complaints against you. You tolerate some among you whose teaching is like that of Balaam, who showed Balak how to trip up the people of Israel. He taught them to sin by eating food offered to idols and by committing sexual sin. In a similar way you have some Nicolaitans among you who follow the same teaching.”
This is the deception of the devil. He made what was wrong look normal. And Jesus is not pleased.