I had a thought that honestly bothered me the longer I sat with it.

We usually picture someone following Satan as a person who knows exactly what they’re doing. Someone who hates God, rejects Jesus, and willingly chooses darkness.

But that isn’t the only kind of deception Scripture warns us about.

Jesus said there would be people standing before him calling him Lord, talking about prophecy, casting out devils, and wonderful works done in his name.

And he tells them, I never knew you.

That’s Matthew 7.

These people aren’t arguing that Jesus isn’t Lord. They’re calling him Lord. They aren’t claiming they never did anything for him. They’re actually pointing to everything they believed they did for him.

That’s what makes this so uncomfortable.

They thought they knew him.

Then I got to 2 Corinthians 11 and it became even harder to ignore.

Paul warned about false apostles disguising themselves as apostles of Christ. Then he said Satan himself is transformed into an angel of light, and his ministers can appear as ministers of righteousness.

Not ministers of darkness.

Ministers of righteousness.

That changes the way we should think about deception.

Because if every lie looked evil, smelled evil, and announced itself as evil, nobody with discernment would fall for it. A counterfeit only works when it looks enough like the real thing to pass.

And Scripture keeps warning us about exactly that.

Another Jesus. Another gospel. False apostles. False prophets. Wolves in sheep’s clothing.

Jesus even told his disciples that people would kill them and believe they were doing God service.

Imagine being that deceived.

Fighting against the people Jesus sent while believing you’re defending God.

So does Satan have a remnant?

No. I can’t find Scripture saying that, and I’m not going to create a doctrine because it sounds good. Revelation 12 actually shows the dragon making war against the remnant.

But Satan doesn’t need a remnant.

A counterfeit is dangerous enough.

And this is where I think we need to be very careful, because I can already see how easy it would be to read this and immediately start thinking about somebody else.

That church.

That denomination.

That preacher.

That person you argued with last week.

But what if this warning was never given so we could examine everybody except ourselves?

I call myself  a part of the remnant.

That doesn’t make me God’s remnant.

You can call yourself a pastor, prophet, apostle, Christian, believer, or anything else. The title doesn’t prove who you belong to.

Neither does being unpopular.

Neither does being rejected.

Neither does knowing Scripture.

Neither does being absolutely convinced you’re right.

The people Jesus warned about were convinced too.

That’s the part I can’t get away from.

What happens when the Word of God cuts across something I’ve believed my entire life?

Do I surrender it?

Or do I start searching for ways to make Scripture say what I already believe?

Because maybe one of Satan’s greatest victories isn’t convincing someone to openly worship him.

Maybe it’s convincing someone they’re faithfully following Jesus while teaching them to resist everything Jesus actually said.

That’s why I keep going back to Scripture.

Not because I think I’ve figured everything out.

Because I know I haven’t.

I want God to tear apart anything in me that didn’t come from him. I don’t care who taught it to me, how long I’ve believed it, how many Christians agree with it, or how uncomfortable losing it makes me.

If it isn’t true, I don’t want it.

Search me first.

Correct me first.

Expose me first.

Because I would rather have God destroy something I spent my whole life believing than spend my whole life defending something he never said.

The question isn’t whether I can spot the counterfeit in somebody else.

The question is whether I would recognize it in me‼️