Diabolical Want Ads ...

I ran across the funny photo at left recently. At first I just laughed, but then, me being me, I got to thinking about it.

I mean, if the evil one posted job ads, couldn't this be pretty close to one that he would write? He is, after all, seeking world domination. And he does enslave people to work 24-7 for his objectives (2 Timothy 2:26). Messy death is indeed inevitable but he does allow his minions to have pointless, glitzy toys in the interim.

And yet, when he gives his sales pitch, somehow so many people find it to be compelling and logical.

So much so that even God's people can occasionally ask themselves whether they're really right when so many other people are going a different way.

So what are the key beliefs on which the deception depends?

Here's my first take on a few of the things that the evil one gets people to accept without question because once they're accepted his form of slavery seems quite logical:

(1) This physical world really is all that there is. There's nothing beyond it.
(2) All truth should be evaluated by means which are really only appropriate for understanding physical reality. That is, if you can't find it physically it doesn't exist. This is really a variant of point 1.
(3) Once you're dead, you're dead.
(4) The pleasure you experience in this life is really all the good that you're ever going to see before you die, so you should pursue that above everything else.
(5) There really isn't any such thing as absolute standard of "good" or "evil" to which anyone's accountable. All there really is is what different people like or don't like. So you should pursue whatever you think is good.

Contrast this with the biblical worldview:

(1) God is the ultimate reality and He is the reason for the existence of everything exists. Everything exists to bring Him glory.
(2) Truth is what agrees with God's self-validating revelation. Physical science is only good for understanding physical law.
(3) Men are spiritual. There is an eternal life after death, and our destiny there is determined in this life.
(4) The reward is in eternity. Any good we see here is only a presentiment of what God has for those that love Him. The ultimate Reward is knowing God.
(5) We are all evaluated by our response to God. Do we fall at His feet in worship? Or try to hide? Do we give Him glory and derive all of our pleasure from Him? Or try to find those things in false substitutes. We are morally obligated and designed to pursue God.

Stark difference, no?

It is true, as Paul said in 1 Corinthians 15:19 that if we trust in Christ in this life only then we Christians are of all people most to be pitied. Because if that's true, then all the things we believe in are a lie and we really should be doing as the world does: "Eat, drink, and be merry, for tomorrow we die."

But we aren't wrong.

So  "Choose this day whom you will serve .. but as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord." (Joshua 24:15).

"O Lord our God, other lords besides you have ruled over us, but your name alone we bring to remembrance." Isaiah 26:13