Today’s Devotional – June 14th (The Straw-Man, Part 3: “Satan’s Straw-Man Ploy!”)
By admin On January 28th, 2021.
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Today’s Devotional – June 14th
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The Straw-Man,
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Part 3:
“Satan’s Straw-Man Ploy!”
TO READ PART 1, CLICK HERE…March 5th (The Straw Man: “Villains And Heroes”)
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THOSE GROUPS OVER THERE!
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There is a large percentage of churches who fall into the category of “prosperity gospels”. Most of these are rather flagrant in their violation of the most fundamental principles of God’s Word.
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And because these false gospels are so obviously apostate, they become the object of a lot of criticism, by the more “conservative” gospels.
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THE STRAW MAN PLOY
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The Bible says concerning Satan… “we are not ignorant of his devices” 2nd Corinthians 2:11. And it is not hard to see that Satan employs this same strategy in the secular world.
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It’s often referred to as a variation of the, “Straw Man Ploy”. Simply put, Satan creates a class of persons, who make most everyone else look good.
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Just a quick look at society, and one can easily see that Satan has raised up a large class of frowned-upon groups of people: drug addicts, thieves, Satan worshippers, the morally perverse, the socially-abhorrent, and other similar-type groups. And when compared to these, the status-quo, working-class feel pretty good about themselves.
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“I’m a hard working, tax-paying, flag-waving, church-going citizen! I’m not a drug addict or a degenerate like those people over there! So don’t tell me I need a Savior! I’m a good, honest, decent and upstanding person!”
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This seems to be one very great deception that Satan employs against the “normal” segment of society.
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Straw man (or lady) – cropped – Wikipedia – share-alike or GNU Free Documentation license
Drunk Panhandler – Wikipedia – Public-Domain
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AS IN SOCIETY, SO ALSO IN CHURCHES!
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And so, why would we not assume that Satan employs this very same strategy within Christendom?
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Yes, this Master-Deceiver, Satan, causes us to point our proud finger of indignation at those “whackos” over there, and at the same time, we are deceived into thinking that, compared to them, we are in pretty good standing with God! A very brilliant strategy by Satan, wouldn’t you agree?
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Satan presiding at the Infernal Council – wikipedia – US public domain
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THE DAY OF THE LORD IS UPON THE PROUD
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And so, mainstream Christianity is quite confident that “We’re Rapture-ready!”, not knowing the following passage is referring to us…
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Listen…
“For the day of the LORD of hosts shall be upon every one that is proud and lofty,
and upon every one that is lifted up; and he shall be brought low….
And the loftiness of man shall be bowed down,
and the haughtiness of men shall be made low:
and the Lord alone shall be exalted in that day.”
Isaiah 2:12-17
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Yes, those who are proud and lofty will be the prime objects of God’s disapproval on that Day!
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And while we are pointing our bony fingers at those “other groups”, we are not realizing that God’s finger is pointing down at us!
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ABOVE PICTURE: the accusing finger – share-alike license – www.signsofheaven.org
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SO WHAT’S THE ANSWER?
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So what can we do about our situation? Well, this next section below tells us just where we ought to be…
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Question Mark – at a loss – Wikimedia – Share-alike license
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WEEPING MAY ENDURE FOR THE NIGHT…”
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Well, there is some Good News! Yes, dear Soul, there are just a few hours of grace left for both you and I to repent and begin to order our life aright before God…
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Listen…
“Ye adulterers and adulteresses,
know ye not that the friendship of the world is enmity with God?
whosoever therefore will be a friend of the world is the enemy of God…
Draw nigh to God, and He will draw nigh to you.
Cleanse your hands, ye sinners;
and purify your hearts, ye double minded.
Be afflicted, and mourn, and weep:
let your laughter be turned to mourning,
and your joy to heaviness.
Humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord,
and He shall lift you up.”
James 4:4, 8-10
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Yes, here is the time-tested remedy for our proud and deceived hearts. And we must employ this remedy until the day in which our Savior appears in the clouds of glory to bring us with back with Him.
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Prayer – USMC – Wikimedia – US Govt. Public Domain
Girl Praying – Wikimedia – Public Domain
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TO READ PART 4, GO HERE…
April 8 (The Straw-Man, Part 4: “Stigmatizing Christianity! Foolish Talk & Jesting”)
Straw man (or lady) – Wikipedia – Share-alike or GNU Free Documentation License
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TODAY’S PRAYER…
“Dear Lord, Help me to escape from this deadly deception by that Master-Deceiver, Satan! Let me not be a proud finger-pointer. But rather humble me and take away my foolish presumptuous pride…
Woman Praying – cropped image – Wikimedia – Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 Generic license
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READ MORE…
To explore deeper into this subject, please read…“May 6 (The False Prophet, Part 15: Deceiving The Elect With Loud Mics!”, or you can also read… “Fleeing to the Mountains, Part 3: The Abomination in My Heart”, or you can also read…“January 20th (A 3-Finger Judgment-Day)”
Question book magnify svg – Wikimedia – GNU license
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THE END
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TODAY’S FEATURED HEAVENLY SIGN
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REVELATION 12 TAKES PLACE IN HEAVEN
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“And there appeared a great wonder (sign) in heaven; a woman…And she being with child cried, travailing in birth, and pained to be delivered. And there appeared another wonder (sign) in heaven; and behold a great red dragon…And his tail drew the third part of the stars of heaven, and did cast them to the earth…And the woman fled into the wilderness…And there was war in heaven: Michael and his angels fought against the dragon…And to the woman were given two wings of a great eagle, that she might fly into the wilderness…And the serpent cast out of his mouth water as a flood after the woman, that he might cause her to be carried away of the flood…” Revelation 12: 1-4, 6, 7, 14, 15 (condensed)
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This above passage is a very condensed version of Revelation, Ch. 12. (To read entire Chapter 12, click here)
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READ MORE…
To explore deeper into this subject, please read… “Woman of Revelation 12 (Flees to the Wilderness)”
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TOMORROW:
“June 15th (David’s Secret Strength: Prayer & Praise!)”
David the Shepherd Boy – Wikipedia – US Public Domain
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20+ MINUTE AUDIO STUDY IN JEREMIAH 
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ALL‘NOBLE BEREANS’ (open-minded seekers of Bible truth) ARE ENCOURAGED TO BEGIN FOLLOWING THIS 650+ AUDIO BIBLE STUDY THROUGH THE BOOK OF JEREMIAH EACH DAY ON THIS DAILY DEVOTIONAL.
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THIS STUDY #163 IS PRESENTED BY THE LATE HAROLD CAMPING, FORMER CEO OF FAMILY RADIO…
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above picture: Prophet Jeremiah – www.christianimagesource.org – Public Domain