• Welcome to Religious Forums, a friendly forum to discuss all religions in a friendly surrounding.

    Your voice is missing! You will need to register to get access to the following site features:
    • Reply to discussions and create your own threads.
    • Our modern chat room. No add-ons or extensions required, just login and start chatting!
    • Access to private conversations with other members.

    We hope to see you as a part of our community soon!

What Is The Greatest Trick Satan Ever Pulled?

james bond

Well-Known Member
The answer is positively wicked. I thought it was if you're going to lie, then lie big as he told Jesus he would give him power to rule the world.

"Finally, the devil took Jesus to a very high mountain. He showed Him all the kingdoms of the world and their glory. “If You bow down and worship me,” he said, “I will give You all of this.”

Jesus said to him, “Get away from Me, Satan! It is written, ‘Worship the Lord your God. He is the only One you should serve.’ ” - Matthew 4:8-10
 

james bond

Well-Known Member
"The greatest trick the devil ever pulled was convincing the world that he doesn't exist."

It's a line from The Usual Suspects movie, but his cunning and treachery is evident as described in the Bible.


"that old serpent, called the Devil, and Satan, which deceiveth the whole world." Revelation 12:9


"Lest Satan should get an advantage of us: for we are not ignorant of his devices" II Corinthians 2:11
 

sun rise

The world is on fire
Premium Member
This has elements which resemble manichaeism because it personalizes darkness as an entity fighting against the light. Strict manichaeism is this:

These two powers might have lived eternally in peace, had not the Prince of Darkness decided to invade the realm of light. On the approach of the monarch of chaos the five aeons of light were seized with terror. This incarnation of evil called Satan or Ur-devil (Diabolos protos, Iblis Kadim, in Arabic sources), a monster half fish, half bird, yet with four feet and lion-headed, threw himself upward toward the confines of light.

CATHOLIC ENCYCLOPEDIA: Manichaeism
 

Phantasman

Well-Known Member
The answer is positively wicked. I thought it was if you're going to lie, then lie big as he told Jesus he would give him power to rule the world.

"Finally, the devil took Jesus to a very high mountain. He showed Him all the kingdoms of the world and their glory. “If You bow down and worship me,” he said, “I will give You all of this.”

Jesus said to him, “Get away from Me, Satan! It is written, ‘Worship the Lord your God. He is the only One you should serve.’ ” - Matthew 4:8-10
The greatest trick is to keep man from spiritual truth through keeping him/her ignorant of it through the flesh.
 

james bond

Well-Known Member
This has elements which resemble manichaeism because it personalizes darkness as an entity fighting against the light. Strict manichaeism is this:

These two powers might have lived eternally in peace, had not the Prince of Darkness decided to invade the realm of light. On the approach of the monarch of chaos the five aeons of light were seized with terror. This incarnation of evil called Satan or Ur-devil (Diabolos protos, Iblis Kadim, in Arabic sources), a monster half fish, half bird, yet with four feet and lion-headed, threw himself upward toward the confines of light.

CATHOLIC ENCYCLOPEDIA: Manichaeism

The above sounds like manichaelism, but Satan exists because he himself was duped believing that he could be king and have power over the world, i.e. Earth. What he told Jesus was what his greed wanted and this temptation caused him to fall.

Lesser men have settled for much less.
 

wizanda

One Accepts All Religious Texts
Premium Member
"The greatest trick the devil ever pulled was convincing the world that he doesn't exist."
This is true; yet the deception is that it exist within mankind, where some people's ego doesn't ever take responsibility, and would rather pass blame; so rather than recognize we're the demons down near hell, we look to find a savoir or someone to blame instead of ourselves.

In my opinion.
:innocent:
 

Kangaroo Feathers

Yea, it is written in the Book of Cyril...
gTlWVzx.jpg
 

Kuzcotopia

If you can read this, you are as lucky as I am.
The answer is positively wicked. I thought it was if you're going to lie, then lie big as he told Jesus he would give him power to rule the world.

"Finally, the devil took Jesus to a very high mountain. He showed Him all the kingdoms of the world and their glory. “If You bow down and worship me,” he said, “I will give You all of this.”

Jesus said to him, “Get away from Me, Satan! It is written, ‘Worship the Lord your God. He is the only One you should serve.’ ” - Matthew 4:8-10

Here's a fun trick. The Gospels were written based on eye-witness testimony. . . When Jesus was alone in the desert, fasting and being tempted by Satan, who was the eye-witness?

It HAD to be Satan!
 

james bond

Well-Known Member
This is true; yet the deception is that it exist within mankind, where some people's ego doesn't ever take responsibility, and would rather pass blame; so rather than recognize we're the demons down near hell, we look to find a savoir or someone to blame instead of ourselves.

In my opinion.
:innocent:

I would think your statement is true, too. One of the purposes of religion is to for its practitioner to accept the blame and be responsibile.
 

james bond

Well-Known Member
Here's a fun trick. The Gospels were written based on eye-witness testimony. . . When Jesus was alone in the desert, fasting and being tempted by Satan, who was the eye-witness?

It HAD to be Satan!

th


That was Barack Obama in one tv show I watched.

I suppose this is a joke, but I'll bite. The eyewitness was also God.
 

Kuzcotopia

If you can read this, you are as lucky as I am.
th


That was Barack Obama in one tv show I watched.

I suppose this is a joke, but I'll bite. The eyewitness was also God.

So how did the writers of Matthew and Luke determine the content of this conversation if God was the only eyewitness?
 

Nakosis

Non-Binary Physicalist
Premium Member
The greatest trick Satan ever pull off was convincing you that he was somebody other than yourself.

When are folks going to start taking responsibility for their thoughts and actions? Stop blaming some mythical entity for all the world's wrong doings.

Nobody here doing anything but us humans,
 

wizanda

One Accepts All Religious Texts
Premium Member
So how did the writers of Matthew and Luke determine the content of this conversation if God was the only eyewitness?
Because Matthew was possibly a tax collector, Luke possibly a physician alive at the time; therefore it isn't an after thought 40 years later to make a note of things.

In my opinion. :innocent:
 

wizanda

One Accepts All Religious Texts
Premium Member
Nobody here doing anything but us humans,
In The Celestine Prophecy by James Redfield, he makes a point of control dramas being contagious (aloof, poor me, interrogator, intimidator)...

That due to someone stealing our energy, we will automatically responsively steal it back, unless we recognize these control patterns...

We're also susceptible to alternating between control dramas to find a way to get energy from each other, rather than from the CPU.

Thus the ideas presented of viruses misleading humanity is plausible; who coded them is in question, and since everything is processed, it isn't without reason.

In my opinion. :innocent:
 

james bond

Well-Known Member
So how did the writers of Matthew and Luke determine the content of this conversation if God was the only eyewitness?

First, I didn't mention Barack Obama because of your quote. It was coincidental. I just saw your quote now.

Because God told them. That's the whole point of the Bible. It's God as witness and his testimony. His word. The creator.
 

Phantasman

Well-Known Member
The above sounds like manichaelism, but Satan exists because he himself was duped believing that he could be king and have power over the world, i.e. Earth. What he told Jesus was what his greed wanted and this temptation caused him to fall.

Lesser men have settled for much less.
Yes men have. From my perspective, Constantine offered the world to the catholic (one god) believers and they accepted where Jesus denied. Following a leader who killed his enemies, the Roman church stated killing their enemies as well. They desired the world, the same world Jesus told us to come out from.

Deception is the devils strongest tool. And will use scriptures in it's achievement.

Ignorance is the mother of all evil. Ignorance will result in death, because those who come from ignorance neither were nor are nor shall be.- Philip

Ignorance is a slave. Knowledge is freedom. If we know the truth, we shall find the fruits of the truth within us. If we are joined to it, it will bring our fulfillment.- Philip

Luke:
51 From the blood of Abel unto the blood of Zacharias which perished between the altar and the temple: verily I say unto you, It shall be required of this generation.
52 Woe unto you, lawyers! for ye have taken away the key of knowledge: ye entered not in yourselves, and them that were entering in ye hindered.

(39) Jesus said, "The pharisees and the scribes have taken the keys of knowledge (gnosis) and hidden them. They themselves have not entered, nor have they allowed to enter those who wish to. You, however, be as wise as serpents and as innocent as doves."- Thomas

The very knowledge Christ said we need, has been hidden by those who gave themselves (celestial) authority over us.
 
Top