Since the Garden of Eden, the devil has done his best to corrupt man’s existence and his relationship with God. Over the course of time, he has not changed his tactics. Why should he when they are still as effective as they were over 6,000 years ago?

Satan and his old tricks

Back in the Garden the devil perverted the Word of God by taking the truth and twisting it a bit. It was true – Adam and Eve did not die immediately after they ate the fruit of the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil. However, when they did, they were banned from eating the fruit of the Tree of Life, which led to their eventual death. Consequently, they learned about good and evil in a most unfortunate way. But why would Eve believe the devil instead of God?

Eve saw that the fruit was “pleasant to the eyes” which made it a physical temptation but we frequently miss the next part of the verse that tells us she saw it was a tree that was desirable to make one wise (Genesis 3:4-6). This represented the lure of the knowledge of the world that the devil is able to twist and uses to challenge the veracity of God. This temptation is not as easily defined as physical temptations. It is a temptation of the mind that carries with it strong undertones of peer pressure and intellectual intimidation. Fast forward to 2014 and not much has changed since the Garden – except that now the devil has more children to act on his behalf. And these children, like their father, are extremely skilled at what they do. In classrooms around the world, they use Evolution to intellectually discredit God and His Word. In the political world, global warming is used to replace recognition of end time prophecies dealing with climate catastrophes and intimidation is used by calling bearers of the truth racists and domestic terrorists.

Lying and intellectual intimidation, however, are not the only tricks in the devil’s bag of temptations and not the only tricks he passes along to his children. The passage in John 8:44 not only attributes lying to the devil, it calls him a murderer. When we recall that the man now occupying the White House voted to have babies born alive as a result of a botched abortion thrown into the trash, we should be asking who but a devil or his progeny would cast such a vote?

While there has been much talk about where Obama was born and who his earthly father might have been, one thing seems clear: he inherited from his spiritual father the spirit of a murderer, a liar, and a pervert. In this case “pervert” is not a reference to his sexual preference. It is a reference to his propensity to take the truth and either totally disregard it or twist it beyond recognition.

Just last week we saw his brilliant perversion televised worldwide. It was so brilliant and well executed that none of the political pundits seemed to understand what really transpired. They commented about the many lies he has told through the years and some even protested that he dared to quote Scripture, but the perversion of Scripture escaped their minds and commentaries. This is unfortunate because this perversion connects him to his father the devil in a most astounding way.

Twisting Scripture then and now

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One of the best examples of a perversion is recorded in Matthew 4:1-10 when Jesus was in the desert being tempted by the devil. A casual read through seems pretty straight forward. Jesus was in a vulnerable position and Satan tried to use it to his advantage. Jesus responded by quoting Scripture. However, if you take the time to look up the verses that the devil was quoting in Psalm 91:11-12, you will find that the devil was accurately quoting the Scripture. HOWEVER, while the quote was accurate, the interpretation was skewed. This is what a perversion truly is: taking a truth and twisting it just a bit to make it seem like it’s actually saying something else. Jesus experienced it in the desert when the devil was trying to tempt him. Eve experienced it in the Garden when the devil successfully tempted her. And we experienced during Mr. Obama’s recent press conference. When Barack Obama quoted Scripture, he didn’t do it as eloquently as his father did in the desert, since he combined a number of Scriptures and rolled them into one. He stated: “We shall not oppress a stranger, for we know the heart of a stranger. We were strangers once too.” The combo verse that Obama quoted came from Deuteronomy 10:19, Leviticus 24:22, Exodus 23:9, Malachi 3:5, and Hebrews 13:2.

Here’s the heart of the perversion. These verses talk about treating strangers justly – the same as you would treat law-abiding citizens. In this case, the aliens and strangers Obama is defending are not traveling through our land legally. Furthermore, the great majority of them were criminals in their own countries before they came here and by virtue of the way they entered this country, they all became criminals. Criminals in biblical times as in present times do not deserve the protection of law. And if we desire to understand the hearts of these strangers, as Mr. Obama suggests, justice should be our first consideration. Additionally, we were not all strangers once too as these interlopers are. Again, these strangers that Obama is referring to are illegally here. Many of us are legal immigrants or the descendants of legal immigrants who are legally entitled to become American citizens and benefit from the many blessings that exist in this country. To those who fall into this legal category, they are the ones entitled to the protection of the law, while those who do not enter legally are entitled to prosecution under the law, which is distinctively different than persecution.

Some may argue that Christians should be merciful to strangers. That is true. However, mercy best exists when it is accompanied by justice and humility. Micah 6:8 says:

He has shown you, O mortal, what is good. And what does the LORD require of you?

To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God.

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So where is the justice in what Mr. Obama is proposing? And where is the humility that these strangers in our land should be exhibiting? If they were humble, wouldn’t they be repenting of their lawlessness, which in this case would mean returning to whence they came? Perhaps I’m missing something but demanding rights from a country that you have illegally entered seems a bit arrogant to me. I argue that there is no justice in the mercy Obama is ordaining by Executive Order. There is no justice for the many Americans who will be losing their jobs to these interlopers. There is no justice for the college students who bumped American born students from enrollment or from receiving grants or scholarship monies. There is no justice for the American taxpayer who is struggling to make ends meet but has continued to foot the bill for the many expenses incurred as a result of the lawlessness of these illegals interlopers. And there is no justice for the would-be legal immigrants who respect this country enough to abide by our laws. In the case of amnesty, the quality of mercy is strained when it imposes injustice on law-abiding American citizens and would-be Americans.

And as for Mr. Obama: well if the character traits of the children of Satan are a murderous spirit, a lying tongue, and a perversion of the Holy Scriptures, the shoe seems to fit the man now occupying the White House. Perhaps Mr. Obama may be living the good life now, but according to the Book of Revelation, he will soon be joining other cowards, unbelievers, the abominable, murderers, the sexually immoral, sorcerers, idolaters, and all liars in the lake that burns with fire and brimstone (Rev. 21:8). Alas, we serve a merciful God, but He is also a just God – and no perversion of Scripture will change that, Mr. Obama. While you may attempt to deliver this country to the gates of hell, many of us will not be joining you there.

Reprinted from The Daily Rant; copyright 2014 Mychal Massie. Used by permission.

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