The Devil Masquerading as Light
The devil masquerading as light is one of the most subtle forms of spiritual deception facing Christians today. If unable to spot where he is hiding, we will embrace all the good stuff, and those good things will eventually become an enslavement. Many have become enslaved to themselves.
Where in our lives is the Devil actually hiding.
The Devil as Religion
Religion, even though it seems good, has become a place of enslavement for many believers. The devil does not mind if we do all the religious stuff as long as we have no true relationship with God.
Most people mark tithes just for the sake of doing it. Some people give because they genuinely love God and desire to support His work. Others may do so merely because they fear the pastor, fear criticism, or want to avoid being questioned by church leaders. In some churches, systems have even been established (Like tithe-books where tithing is registered) to monitor whether members are giving. When giving becomes merely an obligation performed out of fear or church pressure, we must ask whether the practice is truly flowing from faith and love.
Some people are in church for years, yet God’s plans for their lives is still veiled. They do not hear the Holy Spirit. Some rarely read the Bible, hardly pray, and have never developed a meaningful prayer life. Yet they may spend hours watching football, movies, or watch an entire season of a movie over a weekend.
Many Christians sing, “The blessings of Abraham are mine,” but when you look at their lives—from financial, economic, spiritual, and health perspectives—you may not admire it. They are more like slaves than anything else. When you look around slum neighborhoods, you find many Christians living in abject poverty and sickness. Yet these are people to whom the kingdom has been given.
The devil has infiltrated the church and makes sure we practice all the outward forms of religion without the power behind them. Christianity is not an institution but a way of life. Unless we open our eyes and notice the devil hiding behind religion, many will remain in bondage. Religion has kept many in bondage to prayerlessness, carnality, poverty, disease, and many other things.
The Devil as Social Media
Social media has brought many benefits to society. It provides opportunities for communication, education, business, content creation, and networking. Many people have built careers and businesses through it.
Yet, even though it appears to be light, the devil has masqueraded behind it. Today, social media has become a place of addiction where a Christian can spend five hours endlessly scrolling but cannot pray for five minutes. He sleeps on social media and forgets his destiny. The Bible says, “Arise, all ye that sleep.”
Many Christians today struggle with sexual temptation, and much of it is fueled by social media. Though it appears to be light, it has become a source of bondage. If something that appears to be light becomes a source of bondage, then it is no light at all.
There is hardly a way to scroll through Facebook Shorts or TikTok without encountering indecency, words that ignite sensual desires, and immoral behavior that can stain the soul. Many marriages have been destroyed through social media.
Someone who does not take advice from God may present himself as a marriage expert, and many Christians follow that person as he gives them strategies for making marriage work. Yet divorce rates continue to rise across the world. Marital abuse continues to rise, and child abuse continues to rise.
If we miss God’s advice, we miss it all. Avoid taking advice from someone who does not take his from God. Life is complicated, and only God truly understands it. The Bible says that the heart of man is evil. With your eyes alone, you cannot always tell a good man from a bad man.
If social media is your one painful eye, why not plug it out? Jesus says it is better to enter heaven with one eye than to have both eyes and end up in hell. If you know you do not much with your phone—whether for business, schooling, or professional work that requires constant WhatsApp communication—why not sell the Android phone and buy one of those for phone calls and SMS only?
If having a smartphone continually tempts you into watching pornography, I would rather you miss this post than read it and then subject yourself to pornography again.
If you want to read content like this, why not buy books and read them instead of staying here, where the phone can soon tempt you to sin?
The devil is behind it, and he has kept many people in bondage.
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The Devil as Friendships
The devil knows that if he comes to you personally, even the most wicked human being may not accept him as a friend. So, he disguises himself through human friends or uses those who have made themselves available to him.
There are friendships we should not keep as Christians. The Bible says that bad company corrupts good character. There are friends who are good people, but what they do is not always good. It is not too bad, but it is not too good either. The devil does not want his things to be too bad. He wants them to be mildly bad so that you can tolerate and justify them. If something is too bad, he knows you will run away.
He tries to make you lukewarm so that God can no longer use you and your great destiny becomes wasted.
I read a book called Game of Thrones. It is quite a good book, and you may not find sexual content in the book as it appears in the movie. But when you look at the movie, it is unfit for a Christian to watch. Such content can dull your spiritual sensitivity and make you vulnerable to spiritual attacks. Yet Christians were scrambling to watch it. They could not wait for the next season to come out. I would rather enjoy reading the book itself than watching the movie.
Some movies, even Christian movies, are not worthy of being watched. The devil is everywhere. While they may call it a Christian movie, the sensual activities, the indecency, and the various acts may be designed to dull your spiritual eyes. When a Christian becomes spiritually blind, he becomes vulnerable in this world.
Many things are good but not so good, and they are bad but not so bad. When you find those things, run away.
There are friends with whom you might spend the whole day watching football. Football is not bad. You might spend the whole day watching movies. Movies are not necessarily bad. You might spend the whole day or even the whole week getting fit. Getting fit is not bad.
The aim, however, is to dull your relationship with God in a way that you do not notice it. The devil wants you to believe that you are still walking with God while, in reality, you are drifting away from Him. He wants to keep you with one leg in and one leg out.
That is how the devil masquerades as light. He does not always come looking evil. Sometimes, he hides behind things that appear good, harmless, or even beneficial. Unless we develop spiritual discernment, we may embrace the very things that eventually lead us into bondage.
The Devil as a girlfriend or boyfriend
This is one of the biggest sources of lust and sexual immorality among many youths today. It has also led to the destruction of many marriages.
It is not a bad thing for a male to have female friends, nor is it bad for a female to have male friends. However, these relationships can become doors the devil uses to get to us. The Bible teaches us to treat younger Christians as brothers and sisters, not as girlfriends or boyfriends.
What you cannot do with your biological sister or brother, you should not do with a sister or brother in church. If you know you do not hold hands with your biological sister while walking, do not hold the hand of a Christian sister simply because you are close to her.
If holding hands with your biological sister is normal to you because you have always done it, you may not attach any wrong meaning to it while holding hands with a Christian sister. But if you do not normally hold your biological sister’s hand and you attempt to do the same with a sister in church, it may awaken feelings of lust and become a loophole for the devil to enter your life and destroy your destiny.
Every Christian must have a clear conscience so that he or she can be a good ambassador for Jesus. If you do not put your arm around your biological brother, do not do it to a brother in church if you know it could awaken lust. There is too much lust in the church today, and many people have become comfortable with it. If we do not purge ourselves, we cannot expect to see the fire of God moving among us.
Many churches today are using strategies to advance the kingdom of God. This is because sin is still prevalent in the church, and the power of God no longer seems to move as it should. When we purge ourselves from sin, we position ourselves to experience God’s blessings, even in ways we did not ask for.
Some Christians touch members of the opposite sex in inappropriate ways, but the moment they see a pastor approaching, they stop. What we do in secret must also be what we are willing to do in the open if we want to become true soldiers of the cross.
Some men or women invite members of the opposite sex to spend time together late at night. When no one is watching, they engage in inappropriate conversations and dirty talk. Why would a Christian spend the entire Saturday doing nothing but just to invite an outing at 9 p.m.?
We must be careful about the doors we open. The devil can use seemingly innocent relationships to slowly introduce lust, temptation, and sin into our lives.
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The Devil as a Dating Partner
Dating is not the biblical pattern for finding a life partner. Dating, as commonly practiced today, often follows the ways of the world, and the Bible warns us about friendship with the world.
Many Christians have become so influenced by the world that they try to make God’s ways look like worldly ways so that they can fit in.
A Christian is supposed to seek God rather than shop for a life partner as though shopping for clothes. It is God who knows who best fits you. The Bible says that the heart of man is desperately wicked. With your eyes alone, you cannot see everything about a person.
The idea is that a person should remain single until he or she is ready for marriage, then seek God for direction concerning a life partner. God knows the person who is best suited for you.
The Bible says it is not given to man to order his own steps.
In some countries, statistics show high divorce rates despite years of dating before marriage. Some couples date for two years, five years, or even ten years, yet their marriages still end in divorce. The Bible says, “Seek first the kingdom of God, and all these things shall be added unto you.”
We are to seek the kingdom, and a life partner becomes an additional blessing.
Some are as young as 20, 22, or even 18 years old and already carrying the burden of a boyfriend or girlfriend. A young girl who should be focusing on her future may instead spend her time running after a boy who still depends on his parents for even the smallest things. A young boy, with all the difficulties of life already before him, may spend his time dragging a girl around instead of concentrating on building his future and preparing himself for kingdom advancement.
God wants us to have all the good things. He wants us to have good wives, good husbands, and good families. Most of the time, however, we are not ready yet. God wants us to become ready before He brings a life partner into our lives.
Many Christians go ahead of God, choose a life partner, and even get married before they come before God and ask Him to bless their marriage. That may be one reason divorce rates remain high. Some marriages did not begin with God at the center.
You might ask me, “What if I do not have feelings for the wife or husband God is giving me?”
God knows you more than you know yourself. As you follow God’s direction, you will come to love the person He has brought into your life and eventually thank Him for it.
If you do not begin with God, you are building on sinking sand. When the foundation shakes, the marriage may not stand.
The devil wants us to become like everyone else in the world so that the will of God will never be established in our lives.
The Devil as Worldly Music
Music is good, and sometimes people call it the language of the soul. Everyone loves music. However, many Christians believe that worldly music cannot negatively influence their spiritual lives.
Many Christians’ phones are filled with worldly music, and they protest that it is “not as bad as you think.” Whenever you hear, “It is not that bad,” be careful. The devil knows that if something appears too bad, you will run away. So, sometimes, temptation comes in a form that seems mild and acceptable.
Worldly music can disorient your soul and affect your spiritual sensitivity. It can distract you from your relationship with God and prevent you from becoming the wonder you were created to be to your generation.
Even in churches today, there are wedding ceremonies where people use worldly music for the entrance, and some songs are written by people whose lifestyles do not reflect Christian values. How far has the church wandered into the world?
Some people play Christian music in church, but at the reception, they play all kinds of ungodly music. They are Christ-like in church but act differently at the reception.
Some have become so accustomed to worldly music that they even bring its dances into the church. They practice worldly styles and introduce them into Christian gatherings. The Bible warns us about friendship with the world because it can draw us away from God.
Some songs written by people outside the Christian faith may sound inspirational to us, but that does not necessarily mean they align with God’s standards. If someone sings inspirational music but his lifestyle is not in line with God, we should be careful about the influence we allow that person’s work to have on us.
The same applies to Christian songs. There are Christians whose lifestyles do not reflect Christ, even though they sing Christian songs. A Christian musician should educate, teach, and sing music that points people toward God. His or her lifestyle should also reflect Christ.
We must be careful about the sources of what we consume. Even though God can use anyone or anything to fulfill His agenda, our responsibility is to pursue holiness and leave the final judgment to God.
Our duty is to flee from what leads us away from God and to come out from among worldly influences when necessary. We should not spend all our time deciding whether God will use a particular person or song. Instead, we should focus on our own walk with God.
The Devil as Modern Idols
We have many idols in our lives today, but we often do not realize it. When we hear the word “idol,” most people’s minds immediately turn to carved or golden images.
An idol is anything that takes God’s place in your life. It takes the time meant for destiny preparation, takes the place of God’s praise and worship, and interferes with your relationship with Him.
We have Christians today who spend hours at work but barely spend five minutes communing with the Lord. Their job has become a kind of idol in their lives.
People have also shifted their trust from God to men. Today, when a Christian is in trouble, the first person he thinks about may be his lawyer or an uncle who is in the military. When some people become sick, the first thing they do is contact their family doctor. When the sickness becomes more serious than the doctor can handle, only then do they turn their eyes to God.
The devil is being worshiped today through religion, prophets, pastors, celebrities, and political leaders. Money has also taken the first place in many people’s hearts.
During workdays, even when it is raining heavily, Christians will still scramble at the taxi junction to get to work. But when it is raining or merely drizzling, they may refuse to go for prayers, Bible studies, or church services.
God has taken the back seat in many people’s lives, while government, work, entertainment, and social activities have taken the front seat. This explains why we see so many conflicts in the world today.
Where the devil takes the front seat, conflict, jealousy, and many forms of wickedness are bound to follow.
Today, you can find people from other faiths or backgrounds helping to settle conflicts between Christian brothers, disputes between Christian leaders, and disagreements between one Christian denomination and another. When such situations become common in the church, we must ask ourselves whether God truly remains at the center of our lives.
In what form has the devil masqueraded in your life? What are you worshiping without realizing it?
Many people may carry the name “Christian” but have not truly surrendered their lives to Jesus. That is why Jesus warned that, on the last day, some will hear the words, “Away from me, you workers of iniquity.”
Let us purge our lives from sin. Let us look around and find the places where the devil may be hiding in our lives. Let us shut those doors so that the devil will not continue to multiply his activities in our lives.
Conclusion
The devil does not always come looking evil. He is not putting on horns and red jumpsuits. Sometimes, he hides behind relationships, entertainment, music, ambition, work, religion, and even things that appear harmless. We must therefore examine our lives carefully and ask God to give us spiritual discernment.
Let us return to God completely. Let us put Him back in the center of our lives, close every door that leads us into bondage, and live as true ambassadors of Jesus Christ.
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