CT10-BA09 | Every Person Is Tempted
June 29, 2020
Minute of Transparency: Where Transcend Human fits in the ocean of podcasts out there…
Intro: Last week we began to talk about Satan and how his game plan is revenge against God. This week we follow this up with his weapon in the controversy - temptation.
Today’s Basic Assumption: Every Person Is Tempted
Temptation defined
The roles Satan plays
Our conscience the playground
// 1. TEMPTATION DEFINED
Definition:
Tempt: https://www.dictionary.com/browse/tempt
to entice or allure to do something often regarded as unwise, wrong, or immoral
to attract, appeal strongly to, or invite
Temptation: https://www.dictionary.com/browse/temptation
the act of tempting; enticement or allurement
something that tempts, entices, or allures
The fact or state of being tempted, especially to evil
We’re going to talk a lot about temptation as something Satan does - but it’s important to understand that not all temptation comes directly from Satan.
Here are a few different levels of temptation that seem to exist:
Internal:
Dialogue within our heads
Battles or debates we have with ourselves over doing the right thing
Deciding if we want to be better than average or simply maintaining our basic human nature
The decisions to pick the good option over the not so good option
These may not even be coming from Satan as an official temptation - and yet we battle over it in our minds because we believe there is probably a “best practice” or “best case scenario” within each decision we have to make
Maybe it’s a battle over something we were taught as a child - something that has nothing to do with the controversy - and yet we feel “tempted” to change our belief or do something different instead
So let’s look at a few examples:
Deciding whether or not to eat a few more M&Ms (If you’re eating them in moderation is there really an issue?)
Should I watch an episode of a TV show or work on a blog post? (Deciding whether or not to be a consumer or a contributor)
When cleaning the bathroom - should I just wipe it down, or actually get out the chemicals and go to town?
Should we eat at this restaurant (which is less expensive) or the other one (which is a little pricy)?
Again, some of these temptations start to get into the spiritual realm, but for most of us these are simply temptations to choose the lesser of two good things.
In other words: Eating 5 M&Ms vs. 3 M&Ms at the end of the day is not going to have an impact on your spirituality… However, eating less M&Ms is a better choice in the long run - because these little decisions add up, and at the end of the year, you’ve eaten a LOT less M&Ms - which your body is thankful for! (Side note: Apologies to M&Ms for calling you out. However, you aren’t unique - I could have used any candy out there and the illustration would have worked the same…)
External: Worldly
Temptations that we see, experience or are presented to us in some way
These are things Satan or his demons may not be specifically putting in your way
But there is a good chance they influenced their existence
For example: Satan may not directly manipulate your phone to display pornography. But over the years he has masterfully manipulated people, systems and technology so that pornography is rampant, and will work its way onto your device at some point on its own. By working at the Mezzo level - he can indirectly impact you on the Micro level
Another good example is the temptation toward greed: The desire to have more or to be wealthier than others. The perfect career, the bigger house, the faster car, etc. Satan may not be directly tempting you to feel this way. But he has masterfully manipulated the society we live in (I’m talking specifically about the United States right now). He has influenced things so that there are those who have a lot and those who don’t. And he uses this great disparity to his advantage. On the outside it looks genuine. We live in a country of opportunity! Work hard, get rewarded - nothing wrong with that right? The sky’s the limit - why shouldn’t you want what the wealthy have? Do they deserve it more than you? Of course not! Get what you deserve in life...
But at some point healthy desire gives way to greed - and the temptation wins:
For some it means they become workaholics - trying to get to the top at the expense of their health or family
For others, it involves trying to circumvent hard work by stealing, or robbing banks
Others may try to get rich quick through gambling
And still others may wind up addicted to drugs or alcohol because they feel they don’t have enough - and may never get it
Bleak I know - but again this is all part of Satan’s plan
He works at the Macro and Mezzo levels - knowing it will have a trickle-down effect on people at the Micro level
And finally, we have the more traditional temptations - the ones we tend to think of when we hear the word:
External: Satan and/or Damaging Demons
These are external as well - because they are coming from outside your physical body
However, they are thoughts and impressions directly implanted into your conscience by Satan and/or his demons
Like I said, this is the more traditional view we have of temptation: The little cartoon character with red suit, a tail and little horns sitting on your shoulder whispering evil ideas into your ear
These are direct temptations to take the low road, do the wrong thing, hurt others, break the law, go back on your commitments, etc.
This is true Micro level spiritual warfare. It’s Mano a Mano - one on one - Satan working to get you to choose his way over God’s way in the controversy
There are countless ways this plays out:
The temptation to start pursuing your secretary when you’re already married
The temptation to look at pornography because no one is around
The temptation to just take that money from the company because they’ll never know
The temptation to throw someone else under the bus for something you did in order to come out on top
And the list goes on - it’s endless…
// 2. THE ROLES SATAN PLAYS
So in this final category of temptation - the external temptations where Satan or his demons are actively working to get you to do something, there is a tried and true method they have developed.
In each temptation scenario, they play 4 distinct roles in order to get you to do what they want.
So here are the 4 roles Satan plays in any temptation scenario:
The Entrepreneur
The Analyst
The Cheerleader
The Prosecutor
The Entrepreneur is the first role Satan plays. He enjoys stirring the pot, concocting traps, manipulating situations, and inventing evil. His work ethic and marketing strategies make the sin business a force to be reckoned with, and his mind works so much faster that ours. In fact, if the sin business were to go public, there would be no limit to its potential for growth and development on Wall Street. Satan is 100% in the spiritual warfare business, and we are powerless without the help of the Holy Spirit working through our conscience.
Satan invents the temptation, crafts the circumstances, and presents it in such a way that we are naturally drawn to it. He has a personality that won’t quit, uses all the right sales techniques, and the cost always appears reasonable at first glance. So there it is – the temptation – right in front of our eyes, or running through our mind as if we’d asked it to be there. And just like that we have a choice to make…
This is when Satan shifts roles. In walks the The Analyst. It happens so quickly we hardly notice. Satan begins, “Well hello there, looks like you’re working on something, mind if I help?” He doesn’t wait for an answer. He simply plops down beside us and begins to “analyze” our options. He helps us see the positives, and actually makes the negatives seem bearable. Then he goes back to the positives, and stays there for longer than we’d expect, but he sounds so knowledgeable, and his suggestions are exactly what we want to hear.
He explains how no one will really know we’ve made this decision anyway, and offers very valid reasons why we should be able to do it. After all, who really has the right to tell us what to do? He tells us how much fun it will be, and then reminds us again that no one even has to know. Or maybe he uses two of his favorite approaches. Have you heard these ones before? “Just try it once, if you don’t like it, you don’t have to do it again.” Or this one, “This will be the last time, then you can stop doing it.”
Once The Analyst has worked his magic, he immediately shifts into The Cheerleader. This guy is hilarious! He’s the life of the party – the first to arrive, and the last to leave. He never sleeps, and has tried everything at least once. By now we’ve made our decision. Based on the philosophical conversation with The Analyst, we will go ahead and do what The Entrepreneur presented us with. Now the Cheerleader becomes our best friend. He takes one look at us and says, “You and I are going places! I think I’m really gonna like you!” He joins in the fun, and before we know it we’re knee deep in something we shouldn’t be knee deep in. In fact, if The Cheerleader was not there, we begin to wonder if the activity would be half as much fun! But he is there, and it seems like we’re having a blast – until it’s over that is. Suddenly things are quiet again. There’s no laughing, and no carrying on. The Cheerleader is gone...
And that’s when Satan gets to play his favorite role. The Prosecutor enters the room. This little guy makes your skin crawl. He looks like a slumlord, an ambulance chaser, and a bad cop all rolled into one. He has two jobs, and he’s mastered each. First, he uses the old guilt trip. After we sin, The Prosecutor steps up to the microphone to report the bad news, “Wow, I can’t believe you fell for that one! You’re an idiot! God would never forgive you for that, and He certainly wouldn’t want someone like you in heaven!” He keeps pressuring us over our bad decision, and plays off the guilt we feel. He’s relentless, and keeps pushing until we reach a dangerous emotion known as shame.
This was his intended outcome all along. Shame is a deadly emotion that often leads to an irrational thought pattern (belief system). It tells us we're unworthy of the God’s love. And left unchecked, this can increase the separation between us and our Creator. It isn’t God walking away from us - we’re the ones walking away from God. We can become so conned into believing that we don’t deserve God’s love, that we turn and walk in an entirely different direction. Making even worse decisions as we put distance between us and God. Satan understands the debilitating effect shame has on the human race, so he goes the extra mile to make sure we feel the true weight of it after every bad decision we make.
// 3. OUR CONSCIENCE THE PLAYGROUND
So is that it? Are we just doomed to make mistakes because Satan is so powerful and so good at getting us to stray from our intended course?
No!!!
We have to go back and listen to the two episodes on God’s Game Plan
That He is on a Rescue Mission, and that He created the antidote to the Sin Virus through Jesus
And that His weapon in the controversy is our conscience
Let’s start with the conscience…
This is our tool to keep us from getting into hot water in the first place!
The conscience is that little portion of our brains where spiritual warfare takes place
And Satan is not the only one allowed in there
The Holy Spirit is also there to help you see what Satan is trying to do
He is there to correct Satan’s lies, and be supportive as you stand up to him and say “No” to the temptation he is presenting
Now obviously it isn’t that simple:
The conscience has a “strength factor” - and it’s on a continuum from weak to strong:
People who have never even heard of God, or who are far from God would be at the weak end of the spectrum and would more often than not give in to what Satan is presenting
People who know God, understand the controversy and are open to the voice of the Holy Spirit would be more on the strong end - and should be more able to withstand the workings of Satan and his demons
However, people on the strong end of the spectrum are NOT perfect - nor will they ever be.
The Bible makes it very plain: “…all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.” Romans 3:23
And this is the reason for the second part - the part about the Rescue Mission and the antidote to the Sin Virus.
The truth is - we all need the antidote. Even those who have a strong conscience, and are able to make good decisions the majority of the time.
Without the antidote - all of these good decisions would be short-lived, meaningless and worthless to our eternal existence. They may help Earth be a slightly better place to live - but when it comes to us living forever with our Creator - meaningless…
So let’s end things on a good note.
We’ve talked about this before. On the surface, when we talk about Satan and the powerful impact he has on Earth, and on us - we can get jaded a bit. We can start to look at God and Satan as equals - locked in a dangerous battle with the outcome in question.
But we MUST NOT allow ourselves to think that way. This is exactly what Satan wants us to think - because it makes his temptations that much more tempting.
But the truth is this:
“Satan - no matter how much power he seems to have on this planet - will NOT prevail in the Eternal Election. At the end of time he will lose everything. There’s just no way a created being can beat the one who created him. ”
And that’s a good thing! If we are able to maintain this view of Satan it weakens him. And makes us stronger.
A good illustration of this is found in the Harry Potter series. Voldemort, the evil villain, appears to be so strong. Those following him often did so out of fear. And those not following him feared even mention his name.
However, there was a weakness. Albus Dumbledore knew of this weakness, and helped Harry see the truth behind Voldemort's power - which was that Voldemort was only alive because small pieces of him were stored in objects called Horcruxes.
In order to defeat Voldemort, you simply had to find each Horcrux and destroy it. The more of them you destroyed, the weaker Voldemort would become.
As Harry learned this truth, and began destroying each Horcrux, he saw that there was an end in sight. He began to see that Voldemort’s power was built on an illusion.
And so it is with Satan. He wants us to believe that he is as powerful as God. But when we understand the truth about him - we see that there is only one outcome for him - just like there was for Voldemort...
Land the plane:
This week: Ask yourself these questions:
Had you ever thought about temptation in this way before? Had you thought about temptation at all?
If not, does it make sense to you how it works? And that it is Satan’s tool in the controversy?
What big temptations have you faced in your life?
Are there temptations you experience on a regular basis?
And finally, are you able to view Satan like Voldemort? Are you able to see his weakness, and that he cannot win in the end?
Next week we move forward and learn about the various ways we are tempted, in the Tenth Basic Assumption: Temptation Comes in Many Different Flavors.
Thanks again for joining us today. I hope you’re enjoying the content and telling others about it.
Have a great week and until next time, keep Transcending Human!