Pilot Knob Lutheran Church Communique
April 1, 2026
Jesus warned the church more than once to watch that we are not deceived, led astray, or persuaded to believe a lie. Galatians 1:6-7 I am astonished that you are so quickly deserting the one who called you to live in the grace of Christ and are turning to a different gospel— which is really no gospel at all. Evidently some people are throwing you into confusion and are trying to pervert the gospel of Christ. Who is the great liar and deceiver? Satan, the devil, the serpent, the dragon, Lucifer, Leviathan. His most effective camouflage is to put on a costume that looks like an angel of Light. 2 Corinthians 11:14 Satan himself masquerades as an angel of light, and a cartoonish character in a red jumpsuit holding a pitch fork.
Satan can wrap himself in artificial light appearing to be sent by the true Light. In so doing he speaks to those who desire God to speak to them a word of revelation and/or prophecy, and those who don’t know scripture and who don’t know Jesus as savior. Never will Satan speak an outright lie. His deception is always couched in truth but with a twist. We see this in his temptations of Jesus in the wilderness. Satan quoted scripture and then gave it a ‘humanistic twist – right out of context. He appeals to the desires of our fallen human nature: our desire to satisfy hunger (not evil until placed above God), for power and authority and lastly our desire to worship something. Ultimately he wants our worship which in turn is humanism.
Notice Satan does not deceive false religions, just Christianity; in other words, truth. He promotes false religions as weeds that look like wheat (believers) thus redirecting our attention away from Jesus Christ and his inerrant word.
His goal: to destroy everything; mind, body, and soul, and to hold us hostage as a prisoner of fear, deception, and death. This type of war requires vigilance, discernment and wisdom; qualities we can only develop through intimate knowledge of God’s truth. Jesus successfully confronted Satan by speaking the correct application of scripture. 2 Timothy 2:15Do your best to present yourself to God as one approved, a worker who does not need to be ashamed and who correctly handles the word of truth. Also as a Christian, consider James 4:7 Submit yourselves, then, to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.
Is the deceiver greater than our redeemer? Of course not. He was destroyed and sentenced to hell when Jesus yelled out from the cross: “It is finished!” Know also what 1 John 4:4 says: You,… are from God and have overcome them, because the one who is in you is greater than the one who is in the world.
Learn the TRUTH so you may recognize lies and deception when it comes knocking at your door.
Pr. Bob Snitzer
By the Way:
Today, 4:30 Confirmation class.
April 3, 6:30 PM Good Friday Service and Holy Communion. Tearing Down the Spite House
April 5, 9:00 Son-Rise Easter Service and Holy Communion. I Know My Redeemer Lives. No Sunday school.
Past communiques and sermons can be read and heard on our website: www.pilotknob.org and Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/PilotKnobLutheran
Our service also airs on: KGLO 1300 AM at 10:00 AM, and KIOW 107.3 FM at 7:00 AM. Spread the word.
Isaiah 55:10-11 As the rain and the snow come down from heaven, and do not return to it without watering the earth and making it bud and flourish, so that it yields seed for the sower and bread for the eater, so is my word that goes out from my mouth: It will not return to me empty, but will accomplish what I desire and achieve thepurpose for which I sent it.
