Satan’s Snares

Living the Christian life we must walk carefully and always be alert for the snares of the Devil. Satan knows he cannot take our salvation, that is secured, but he can wreck our testimony. Being a Christian takes work. We cannot sit and do nothing; it takes effort to avoid the snares. A snare is a trap with a lure. Luke 21:34. And take heed to yourselves, lest at any time your hearts be overcharged with surfeiting, and drunkenness, and cares of this life, and so that day come upon you unawares. 35. For as a snare shall it come on all them that dwell on the face of the whole earth. 36. Watch ye therefore, and pray always, that ye may be accounted worthy to escape all these things that shall come to pass, and to stand before the Son of man. We must stand before Christ.

We must be wise. We must pray for wisdom and read God’s word to understand what to do. Proverbs 29: 8. Scornful men bring a city into a snare: but wise men turn away wrath. We must turn from the snares that oftentimes come as temptation. Satan knows our weaknesses. He will use that weakness to get us into a snare. All have sinned as the bible tells us. We are all transgressors of the law so we are all sinful. We must beware of our own judgments. Sin fools the blind. If you get away with sin then you are not a Christian. Some people think they are righteous and do not see when they are sinning, that is a snare in and of itself.

The world is a snare and it will rob you of Christian growth. Yes Movies, Television, video games and other things of the world can come between you and the Lord Jesus Christ. Exodus 34:12. Take heed to thyself, lest thou make a covenant with the inhabitants of the land whither thou goest, lest it be for a snare in the midst of thee. I do not read horror scopes or even look at them as entertainment; they are evil and false gods are real.

Materialism is a god of this world. Exodus 23:33. They shall not dwell in thy land, lest they make thee sin against me: for if thou serve their gods, it will surely be a snare unto thee. Gods can be almost anything. There are new car gods, Political system gods, sports gods and others. Yes many people place importance on things of the world. People worship girlfriends, Harley Davidson, favorite sports teams and anything that takes your eyes off of GOD.

Friends can be a snare. What kind of people are your friends? Are they ones who will take you into sin? Do some of your friends bring out the worst in you? Proverbs 22: 24. Make no friendship with an angry man; and with a furious man thou shalt not go:. My advice is to make friends with your brothers and sisters in the Lord but remember they are sinners as well. With your friends or any peer pressure you can always make a no into a yes but it is very hard to ever make a yes into a no. So when friends ask you to do something you are not sure you should do, just say no. Do not make friends with enemies of GOD. That would include any atheist or agnostic.

Money is a very big snare in today’s world. People will work Sunday because they need the money. People love to have things and let their wants overcome them. Jesus was betrayed for money. 1 Timothy 6:9. But they that will be rich fall into temptation and a snare, and into many foolish and hurtful lusts, which drown men in destruction and perdition. I know people who work extra hours to provide for their kids and then they never spend any time with them because they are too busy. I would rather wear rags and eat beans every day, then to miss fellowship with my brothers and sisters or neglect my family.

Words are another snare. Words can hurt people and words can deceive people. Words it is said can be one of the most dangerous weapons we have. Proverbs 18:7. A fool's mouth is his destruction, and his lips are the snare of his soul. Gossip is very destructive and must not be done by Christians. It is part of the snare of words. Think about what you are going to say before you say it. Think if it is something that Jesus would want you to say.

Fear is a snare, that is except the fear of the Lord. All other fear is dangerous. Will you do something that is against what you believe due to fear? Will you not stand up for what you believe out of fear? Proverbs 29:25. The fear of man bringeth a snare: but whoso putteth his trust in the Lord shall be safe. Remember the saying ‘there is nothing to fear but fear itself.’ I think most people deal with this snare. I know I do. It is something I have to deal with. It can be fearful to do the will of God, like door knocking or telling your boss that you can’t work on the Lord’s Day.

Now that you have an idea about several snares, you must know your weaknesses because the devil knows them. The Devil knows what trips you up so that is where he will do his work. Be careful. If you know you have a problem in a certain sin area, don’t walk the edge. Don’t get close to your sin because you will fall into a snare. I mentioned some snares but there are several other snares out there. Pornography is a huge snare these days since it is so available. There are others as well. The devil will try to trip you up on several snares.

Remember that a snare is a trap with a lure. The lure can be something as simple as a thought. When they snare animals they will bait the trap with something they like. Perhaps their favorite food. Look at the casinos. They always have these wonderful buffets. I have been there. They will feed you your favorite foods, like prime rib and shrimp and for such cheap prices you can’t believe it. But when you go there you have to walk though the casino to get to the buffet. You can hear the bells ringing and change dropping. You see shiny chrome and every color of the rainbow, and themes that make you think it is so fun. You see a casino is a perfect example of a human snare it has the bait and it looks like fun and then if you get drawn in you can lose everything you have.

Guard your thought life. 2 Corinthians 10:3. For though we walk in the flesh, we do not war after the flesh: 4. (For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty through God to the pulling down of strong holds;) 5. Casting down imaginations, and every high thing that exalteth itself against the knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ;. One result of a snare is the creation of a stronghold. Our thought life is the one our friends don’t know and our family doesn’t know but Jesus does know. There is nothing hidden from the Lord. He knows our hearts, ask him to help you with your thoughts. I like to interrupt evil thoughts with prayer. You can pray in your thought life and that is what I think it means in 1Thessalonians 5:17. Pray without ceasing. If you and I can do that I think the chance of falling into a snare would become more unlikely.

It is clear that we are saved once. John 10:28. And I give unto them eternal life; and they shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand. 29. My Father, which gave them me, is greater than all; and no man is able to pluck them out of my Father's hand. So then why would Satan try to tempt us into sin? Because we know that after we get saved we still sin. 1 John 1:8. If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. So why do we sin and why would the Devil want us to sin? 1 John 1:6. If we say that we have fellowship with him, and walk in darkness, we lie, and do not the truth: 7. But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship one with another, and the blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth us from all sin. When we sin, we lose fellowship with GOD. It is my experience that when I sin I am not praying without ceasing. But most importantly we lose our connection with GOD. The more you serve the Lord the more you want to be with him. It hurts when I am out of fellowship. But, 1 John 2:1. My little children, these things write I unto you, that ye sin not. And if any man sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous: We have a way to get back into fellowship, Satan will always be throwing everything he has to get us to trip up. 1 John 1:9. If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. So confess your sins. We were vile evil sinners not deserving of GOD’s grace before we got saved. Often times we bring our sins with us into our new life. Some of our problems go away upon salvation, and some we have to work though. I know in my life there were sin problems that went away right after salvation but there are some I’m still working though. Philippians 2:12. Wherefore, my beloved, as ye have always obeyed, not as in my presence only, but now much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling. 13. For it is God which worketh in you both to will and to do of his good pleasure. We have to work out our salvation. That means we need to work through those weaknesses that might trip us up. When an athlete has a week area they work on that area to strengthen it. Satan is no dummy; he knows our weaknesses. He wants to set up strongholds in our life so he can tempt us even more. A stronghold is a fortress and the more we feed that sin the more fortified it gets. 2 Corinthians 10:4. (For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty through God to the pulling down of strong holds;) 5. Casting down imaginations, and every high thing that exalteth itself against the knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ; 6. And having in a readiness to revenge all disobedience, when your obedience is fulfilled. The way to tear down strongholds is to cast down imaginations, in other words, stop dwelling on things we ought not dwell on. Take control of your thought life.

Confess your sins to your brothers in Christ. It is hard to sin when other people know of your sin and have others pray for you. James 5:16. Confess your faults one to another, and pray one for another, that ye may be healed. The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much. Know I am not saying air all your dirty laundry to everyone. Talk to your Pastor. It is his job to help you and he will not judge you. Believe it or not there is a 99% chance he has heard it before. Our problems are not so unique as we might think. Our pastor is a Shepherd of a flock. He was chosen by GOD to look over his sheep, that is us. You can also find a mentor in your local New Testament Church, someone you can be accountable to. Proverbs 27:17. Iron sharpeneth iron; so a man sharpeneth the countenance of his friend.

The snares are out there and the bait is so enticing it is hard to resist. Any fur trapper will tell you can do what ever you can to hide a trap but it is the bait that will catch the prey. A fox is a smart creature he can figure out the cleverest trap but if he is hungry and you have the right food dangling there for him, his hunger might over come his good sense and then he is trapped. Have a hunger for Godly things otherwise you might get caught in one of Satan’s many traps.

Satan is not an individual entity...

Set, Satan, and Shaitan are the same. "Satan" is a Hebrew word for the pagan Egyptian Set. Satan, Shaitan, Set or Seth ("ha-Set-hn" as spoken in the ancient Hebrew) is a pagan entity, the "adversary" of Judaic theology. (A "pagan" is anyone not Judaic or Christian.)

The Greeks called Set "Typhon," who was the war god assigned to Upper Egypt. This also represents another contravention to the "accepted" etymologies of words like "typhoon" in English, which is erroneously listed as the Cantonese "tai fung" in many dictionaries. English has more commonalties with Greek and Latin.

The Egyptian priest Manetho associated the Jews with the Hyksos and Moses with the Egyptian priest Osarsiph. It was at this time that the belief the Jews worshipped an ass – an animal holy to the Egyptian god Set was established. Both the Jews and the pagan Egyptians used the labels (i.e., Satan, Set, etc.) to defame each other. How fitting that amidst this epic struggle and bloody conflict, the entity known as Satan was born into the World. Such conflict continued through the Maccabean period (with Antiochus Epiphanes), and continues into modern times on several fronts.

There is a recurring theme that alludes to the hostility between the pagan Egyptians and the Judaic. Often it is claimed by the Neo-Pagans that Satan is only found in Christianity. How can this be if Satan is undeniably a Hebrew word adapted from the name of the pagan Egyptian god Set? This cannot be reconciled with the fact that it is a Hebrew word...

Thomas Hobbes has this to support my assertions in Leviathan:

Part III. Of a Christian Commonwealth.
Chap. xxxviii. Of Eternal Life, Hell, Salvation, and Redemption.
[12] And first, for the tormentors, we have their nature and properties exactly and properly delivered by the names of the Enemy (or Satan), the Accuser (or Diabolus), the Destroyer (or Abaddon). Which significant names (Satan, Devil, Abaddon) set not forth to us any individual person, as proper names do, but only an office or quality, and are therefore appellatives, which ought not to have been left untranslated (as they are in the Latin and modern Bibles), because thereby they seem to be the proper names of demons, and men are the more easily seduced to believe the doctrine of devils, which at that time was the religion of the Gentiles, and contrary to that of Moses, and of Christ.
[13] And because by the Enemy, the Accuser, and Destroyer, is meant the enemy of them that shall be in the kingdom of God, therefore if the kingdom of God after the resurrection be upon the earth (as in the former Chapter I have shewn by Scripture it seems to be), the Enemy and his kingdom must be on earth also. For so also was it in the time before the Jews had deposed God. For God's kingdom was in Israel, and the nations round about were the kingdoms of the Enemy; and consequently, by Satan is meant any earthly enemy of the Church.

Part IV. Of the Kingdom of Darkness
Chap. xlvii. Of the Benefit that proceedeth from such Darkness
[1] Besides these sovereign powers, divine and human, of which I have hitherto discoursed, there is mention in Scripture of another power, namely, that of "the rulers of the darkness of this world," [Ephesians, 6. 12] "the kingdom of Satan," [Matthew, 12. 26] and "the principality of Beelzebub over demons," [Ibid., 9. 34] that is to say, over phantasms that appear in the air: for which cause Satan is also called "the prince of the power of the air"; [Ephesians, 2. 2] and, because he ruleth in the darkness of this world, "the prince of this world": [John, 16. 11] and in consequence hereunto, they who are under his dominion, in opposition to the faithful, who are the "children of the light," are called the "children of darkness." For seeing Beelzebub is prince of phantasms, inhabitants of his dominion of air and darkness, the children of darkness, and these demons, phantasms, or spirits of illusion, signify allegorically the same thing. This considered, the kingdom of darkness, as it is set forth in these and other places of the Scripture, is nothing else but a confederacy of deceivers that, to obtain dominion over men in this present world, endeavour, by dark and erroneous doctrines, to extinguish in them the light, both of nature and of the gospel; and so to disprepare them for the kingdom of God to come.

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