…but each person is tempted when they are dragged away by their own evil
desire and enticed. Then, after desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and
sin, when it is full-grown, gives birth to death. James 1:14-15
One of the touristic highlights of visiting China is to walk on the Great
Wall. Six thousand kilometers of wall with ten thousand strategically placed
towers stretch across the north of China, reportedly the only man-made object
observable from space. Construction of various sections began back in 770 B.C.
when rival feudal kingdoms built walls around their territories to keep out
invading nomadic tribes from the north. These were eventually joined into one
wall. The wall averages eight to ten meters in height and five meters wide.
When you walk on the wall, two history lessons make the visit somewhat
somber. First, the wall was built at great cost. Prisoners of war, convicts,
soldiers, civilians and farmers provided the labor. Some estimates say “millions
died for this cause”. Their bodies were buried in the very foundations of the
wall or used to make up its thickness. You walk on top of a cemetery.
The second lesson is that the wall was reportedly breached by Mongol soldiers
disguised as peasants pretending to be gathering firewood and leaving behind
pieces of fruit when they left the area. The guards decided to go out and
retrieve the tempting fruit. This was repeated over time. Eventually the guards
were compromised and overpowered and the Mongol army streamed through that tower
thereby breaching the Great Wall. So after all the effort to build such an
amazing structure for protection, it was rendered useless through simple
deceit.
One of Satan’s favorite tactics against believers is deceit. Here’s an
example from China. Brother Chen arrived one spring day in 1996 at a small rural
Chinese house church group. Some said he was “sent straight from God.” He said
so too. He said he had known Wang Ming Dao and he spoke with a loud booming
voice. His large eyes held their attention closely, and his whole body shook
with vigor at the points he was making. The believers were just so impressed
with the way he talked. He quoted lots of Scripture and wove it into a thrilling
story.
After a few months, he began to talk about heaven being a city of gold, and
that to enter that city they would have to demonstrate that they had given Jesus
their gold in their lifetime. Brother Chen said, “Jesus needs your gold to build
your mansion in heaven and the more gold you give him now, the bigger your
mansion will be.”
Because they were poor, the idea of having a golden mansion in the afterlife
was very tempting. They handed over all they owned: family heirlooms, money,
some expensive textiles from a distant ancestor. One in the group even gave his
motorcycle.
After all the “gold” had been collected, Brother Chen said he had to go and
“open the gate of Heaven for them.” He left, on the donated motorcycle. He took
most of their savings and he hasn’t been back.
RESPONSE: Be aware today of Satan’s subtle tactics of deceit and
intimidation.
PRAYER: Pray for new house church believers in China who are easily
deceived by false prophets.