Links mentioned in this episode:

Anxiety Detox Webinar
West Coast Christian Writers Masterclass
VeritasSchool.life (Free Trial Class: 115 PROVIDENCE)

Chapter 12: It's the Devil, Stupid
Pardon the play on a famous political line—“It’s the economy, stupid”—but it’s important to know that all of the disturbing trends we have seen are not disconnected bits floating on a sea of chaos. They are, rather, gnarly outgrowths from a single malignant root. 

It’s the devil, stupid. 

The fact that the body of Christ has forgotten this, and scarcely references it with any theological accuracy, is my final disturbing trend in today’s church. It is the ground and being of every other disturbing trend too. 

Chaos is irrationality’s excrement. And irrationality is the devil’s calling card. Sin is irrational. A coup against heaven is irrational. A wolf dressed in sheep’s clothing is irrational. 

I am coming to realize that every time I scratch my head over something in the church or in the world and say, “That makes no sense whatsoever,” the devil is only inches away, hiding in the corner. 

It is too kind to say that irrationality is just uninformed, or stupid, or senseless. Irrationality is evil. It is, in fact, the essence of evil.  It is the unreality of demonic lies battering themselves against the bedrock laws of our eternal God.

The lies of Satan will burn themselves out trying to batter God’s people. Herein lies the chaos. The Church, grounded in Scriptural truth, will prevail—ultimately, in the long run. 

The near term is another story. 
More Cunning
Now the serpent was more cunning than any beast of the field which the LORD God had made. And he said to the woman, “Has God indeed said, ‘You shall not eat of every tree of the garden’?” (Genesis 3:1)
When the Bible introduces us to Satan, the first description applied to him is “cunning.” Different translations say subtle, crafty, shrewd, and wise. 

Of all the possible descriptors of the devil, this is the one that is most easily forgotten. This dark lord is cunning. He is crafty. He is wily. 

But this is forgotten. It is forgotten by pastors. It is forgotten by Christians. It is forgotten by politicians. It is forgotten by the world. It is forgotten by virtually every person posting on social media. 

The Head and Fount of all evil, and murder, and darkness, and deception in the world is, above all else, subtle. 

Much later, in the New Testament, St. Paul would say the same thing: “And no wonder! For Satan himself transforms himself into an angel of light” (2 Corinthians 11:14).

What does this cunning prince of demons look like? 

An angel of light.

When humans encounter this master of treachery, they think they have encountered a messenger of beauty and truth.

This verse is the conclusion of a longer argument. Paul writes, “And no wonder!” Why does he say this? 

He says this because, in context, he is talking about his profound concern that his friends who knew the Lord would be seduced away from the simple gospel of the grace of God, and the clear teachings of the Word of God. 
For I am jealous for you with godly jealousy. For I have betrothed you to one husband, that I may present you as a chaste virgin to Christ. (2 Corinthians 11:2)
Every Christian is married to Christ, he says. By definition. The great miracle of the new birth immediately generates the closest union possible between the believer and Christ. The child of God is instantly purified, as a chaste virgin, and is made one with Christ. 

The basis of that relationship is as secure as the triumph of the Crucified and Risen One.