The Fruit of Deception

There is a way that seems right to a man, but its end is the way to death. —Proverbs 14:12

As Puritan pastor Thomas Brooks put it, “Satan promises the best, but pays with the worst; he promises honor, and pays with disgrace; he promises pleasure, and pays with pain; he promises profit, and pays with loss; he promises life, and pays with death.”¹

Satan uses deception to win our affections, influence our choices, and destroy our lives. In one way or another, every problem we have is the fruit of deception—the result of believing something that isn’t true.

Satan holds out the glittering promise of “real life”; he knows, however, that those who respond to his offer will certainly die.

Anytime we receive input that’s not consistent with God’s Word, we can be sure Satan is trying to deceive and destroy us. It may sound or feel right, but if it’s contrary to the Bible, it isn’t right. If we could only see that the forbidden fruit, which looks so ripe and tastes so sweet in the first moment, always leads ultimately to death and destruction.

¹Smooth Stones Taken from Ancient Brooks, comp. Charles H. Spurgeon (Morgan, PA: Soli Deo Gloria, 1996), 93.