thought themselves servants of God and who outwardly appeared to be men of righteousness. “For such men are false apostles, deceitful workers, transforming themselves into apostles of Christ. And no wonder, for Satan himself keeps transforming himself into an angel of light. It is therefore nothing great if his ministers also keep transforming themselves into ministers of righteousness.”—2 Cor. 11:13-15.

As a false angel of enlightenment, Satan has encouraged the cultivation of philosophies and theories that champion his efforts to slander the Supreme Sovereign. Permeating them is the thought that there is no God. So often has this atheistic lie been repeated and insinuated that the thinking of a large percentage of mankind has been swayed by it. It is evident in the thinking that claims man to be the evolutionary result of an accident. Because this idea has been artfully surrounded with an aura of respectability through association with science, it is commonly referred to as if it were a proved fact rather than an unproved theory. Its obvious intent is to eliminate from human thinking the need for the Creator. This fits in well with Satan’s purpose of turning men away from God.

With good reason the Bible warns: “Look out: perhaps there may be some man that will carry you off as his prey through the philosophy and empty deception according to the tradition of men, according to the elementary things of the world and not according to Christ.” (Col. 2:8) Worldly wisdom is not trustworthy. It must be sifted with care and with alertness for Satan’s cunning deceptions.

FREEDOM

Man’s love for freedom has not escaped from becoming a tool in the hands of Satan. He has used it to persuade humans to violate divine laws and to rebel against Jehovah. When the great deceiver spoke to Eve through a serpent, he deluded her into imagining that she would have greater freedom by violating a law of God. “You are bound to be like God, knowing good and bad,” he told her. (Gen. 3:5) She was deceived. Instead of independence from God, she found enslavement and death.

Satan uses the same device today. By subtle means he influences worldly thinking to make independence from divine laws appear as a desirable thing. God’s laws are slyly ridiculed as being restrictive to freedom, burdensome and outdated. Worldly thinking minimizes and frequently justifies the wrongness of immoral acts that are forbidden by God. Drugs are even marketed to help remove guilt feelings from such acts. Through worldly thinking Satan stimulates the rebellious idea of breaking free from God’s standards of morality and judging for oneself what is good and bad. It is the same old lie told Eve but presented in a less conspicuous manner. This devilish quest to be free from God’s laws so as to think and act as one pleases has not brought to man a better world.

Even the field of entertainment is colored with this idea of breaking free from the restraints of God’s moral laws. Dramatic themes are predominantly on what is immoral, criminal and violent. The effect they have on one’s thinking should not be discounted. Recently a research team from the Stanford University Institute for Communication Research remarked about TV entertainment: “Hour after hour this parade of violence passed, as it must pass before our children week after week, and the amount and intensity of it gives one pause.” It should give one pause to think about the deleterious effect it can have on children as well as on adults. Care should be exercised in the selection of entertainment so that insidious ideas that are destructive to respect for divine laws cannot have opportunity to be pounded by repetition into sensitive minds. Be alert to recognize entertainment that reflects the influence of Satan’s twisted thinking.

NATIONAL THINKING

How Satan’s evil thinking can permeate human reasoning on a national scale is seen in man’s willingness to justify the incinerating of whole cities in the name of war. After remarking that the human race is “predominantly insane,” Dr. Hugh Keenleyside, former Canadian diplomat, said: “We can accept without a qualm the idea of incinerating hundreds of thousands or millions of women and children whom under normal conditions we should be glad to cherish, and in whom we should find gentleness and delight. . . . Being insane, we have devised political and economic and religious reasons to justify burning them to death.” Similar devilish reasoning twisted the thinking of the Nazis to justify their infamous extermination camps.

The sinister power that is twisting the thinking of the nations to devise an atomic holocaust for one another is not interested in the welfare of mankind. “We have listened to the wisdom of the serpent,” says the New York Times. “We have brought Promethean fire down from heaven. But the fire consumes us rather than warms us.” Satan is determined to continue ruling or else to ruin mankind, and he uses nationalism to suit his nefarious ends. The Scriptures truthfully state: “The whole world is lying in the power of the wicked one.”—1 John 5:19.

SAFEGUARDS

Since Satan’s deceptions are so clever and convincing that they almost mislead “the chosen ones” of God, you cannot afford to be careless or indifferent to them. (Matt. 24:24) You need safeguards. Two of the best safeguards are recognition of Satan’s existence and knowledge of God’s ways and principles. Recognition of Satan’s existence is essential to successful resistance to his bad influence on your thinking, and knowledge of God’s ways and principles is vital to detecting that influence. Whatever has Satan’s thinking in back of it will be out of harmony with God’s ways and principles.

Love for righteousness, faith in God’s Word and trust in him for salvation can serve as protective armor against the clever wiles of Satan. “Put on the complete suit of armor from God that you may be able to stand firm against the machinations of the Devil.” (Eph. 6:11) Be wary of worldly thinking and its trend to justify what is wrong in the eyes of God. Do not underestimate Satan’s power and ability. Be alert! Be watchful! Resist Satan’s efforts to mold your thinking and to seduce you with his craftiness.—2 Cor. 11:3.

Mixed-up Moral Standard

“While the church pays lip service to the absolute moral demands of Jesus, the actual operative moral standard in the average Protestant church, the standard by which church members judge each other, is a curious and unholy mixture of pagan morality, primitive folk ways, and bourgeois middle-class respectability, seasoned by a few maxims drawn from the Bible.”—Quoted in The Theology of Evangelism by Taito Kantonen from The Apostolic Preaching.