Father of Lies

Ye are of your father the devil, and the lusts of your father ye will do. He was a murderer from the beginning, and abode not in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaketh a lie, he speaketh of his own: for he is a liar, and the father of it.
John 8:44

My wife recently came across this poem written by Dr. Michael Brown:

God loves me and God loves you
Smile sinner, don't be sad,
God's not angry, he's not mad,
And even if you leave the path,
there's no hell and there's no wrath!
God sees your heart, and that's enough.
The judgment seat won't be that tough.
You can't sin away His grace,
Or take that smile from His face.
Trust me, sinner, to the end,
My name is Satan, I'm your friend".

There are so many “friends” in our lives that give us good sounding counsel. They may tell us things like, “God just wants you to be happy” or “It’s not that big of a deal; you can do it and God will still forgive you.”

I fully believe that any advice that makes God out to be soft on sin is advice that really comes from Satan himself. In John 8:44 Jesus says that Satan is the father of lies, and he has been practicing for 6,000 years. The first lie ever told in the Garden of Eden (“You shall not surely die”) is the same lie still being told today, just with minor differences. Satan wants us to think that we can do whatever we want and not pay a price for it.

Despite inflation, the wages of sin is still death.

Who are you listening to, your Heavenly Father, or the Father or Lies?