Category: Satan and Policy of Evil

I Just Wanted to Get Away! #2

Wednesday, September 10, 2025

“And he said, I heard thy voice in the garden, and I was afraid, because I was naked; and I hid myself” (Genesis 3:10 KJV).

Will sinners “get away” from accountability before God?

In Genesis 3:1-6, Adam and Eve chose to live outside of the sphere of existence their Creator God had ordained for them. It was activity contrary to how He designed their life to work. Eve was deceived, but Adam was not (1 Timothy 2:11-14). Adam failed to function as his wife’s Bible teacher, and Eve was negligent by not asking her husband for spiritual counsel.

Their first response to their sin problem was to sew fig leaves together to make clothes to cover their nakedness (Genesis 3:7). Here is works-religion. Instead of asking God to intervene, they took matters into their own hands and attempted to make themselves acceptable in His sight. Man sidesteps accountability for the first time. He is too proud to confess his inadequacy. Adam and Eve knew their manmade coverings of fig leaves were not enough, so they hid from the LORD God when they heard Him approaching (Genesis 3:8). Man avoids accountability for the second time.

Read Genesis 3:9-13: “And the LORD God called unto Adam, and said unto him, Where art thou? And he said, I heard thy voice in the garden, and I was afraid, because I was naked; and I hid myself. And he said, Who told thee that thou wast naked? Hast thou eaten of the tree, whereof I commanded thee that thou shouldest not eat? And the man said, The woman whom thou gavest to be with me, she gave me of the tree, and I did eat. And the LORD God said unto the woman, What is this that thou hast done? And the woman said, The serpent beguiled me, and I did eat.” God calls Adam, the spiritual leader, to confession and accountability—but Adam blames his wife and God (!) for his eating of the forbidden fruit. Man avoids accountability for a third time. Eve then shifts her blame over to the Devil! Here is man’s attempt to justify himself yet again.

While some view Genesis as nothing more than fairytale or legend, they betray their spiritual ignorance. These reactions of Adam and Eve have been played out in every human’s life every day for thousands of years….

In order to bring you a special study tomorrow, we will temporarily break away from this devotionals arc….

I Just Wanted to Get Away! #1

Tuesday, September 9, 2025

“And he said, I heard thy voice in the garden, and I was afraid, because I was naked; and I hid myself” (Genesis 3:10 KJV).

Will sinners “get away” from accountability before God?

A robbery suspect once led police on a high-speed chase down the interstate. With his vehicle forced to stop after some minutes, officers got him out and onto the ground. As he was handcuffed, the adult man sobbed like a little child and cried out, “Man, why did y’all do that to me?! I was just wanting to get away! I was just trying to get away!” It is human nature to evade accountability. This goes all the way back to the literal events of Genesis 3:1-8, when our parents, Adam and Eve, hid from God because of their guilt.

“Now the serpent was more subtil than any beast of the field which the LORD God had made. And he said unto the woman, Yea, hath God said, Ye shall not eat of every tree of the garden? And the woman said unto the serpent, We may eat of the fruit of the trees of the garden: But of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the garden, God hath said, Ye shall not eat of it, neither shall ye touch it, lest ye die. And the serpent said unto the woman, Ye shall not surely die: For God doth know that in the day ye eat thereof, then your eyes shall be opened, and ye shall be as gods, knowing good and evil.

“And when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree to be desired to make one wise, she took of the fruit thereof, and did eat, and gave also unto her husband with her; and he did eat. And the eyes of them both were opened, and they knew that they were naked; and they sewed fig leaves together, and made themselves aprons. And they heard the voice of the LORD God walking in the garden in the cool of the day: and Adam and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the LORD God amongst the trees of the garden.”

Let us see if they “got away….”

The Thing Which is Good

Monday, September 1, 2025

“Let him that stole steal no more: but rather let him labour, working with his hands the thing which is good, that he may have to give to him that needeth” (Ephesians 4:28 KJV).

On this Labor Day, we talk about work, “the thing which is good.”

In this day and age of increasing “government assistance,” people are becoming less and less aware of our hard work being the Lord Jesus’ preferred method of the source of our incomes. While the physically and mentally disabled are obvious exceptions, the God of the Bible expects all of us to contribute labor in order to provide for ourselves. For children and young adults, even being a student in school is work enough!

Observe the doctrine being communicated in today’s Scripture. The grace life does not merely teach us to quit doing bad things, but it also instructs us to start doing good things (Titus 2:11,12). Once a thief trusts the Lord Jesus Christ and His finished crosswork as sufficient payment for his sins, then God expects that thief to quit stealing and find a job so he can provide for his needs!

The God of creation calls work “the thing which is good” (today’s Scripture). Work is not something to be avoided; it is something to be embraced for the Lord’s glory!

When the Lord Jesus Christ put the first man, Adam, on earth, that man had a divine commission. Adam was not to simply loaf around and do nothing: “And the LORD God took the man, and put him in the garden of Eden to dress it and to keep it” (Genesis 2:15). Adam was to protect that garden, to till its ground, to prepare it for Jesus Christ to come down and dwell in with he and Eve (because of sin, that earthly kingdom over which Jesus Christ will rule is still awaiting fulfillment!).

Saints, may we work to provide for our families (1 Timothy 5:8), and may we work to help those who truly are needy (today’s Scripture). In the words of God the Holy Spirit, that is “good!” 🙂

You Builders! #4

Friday, August 29, 2025

“This is the stone which was set at nought of you builders, which is become the head of the corner” (Acts 4:11 KJV).

Who are these “builders?” What have they done—and not done?

After Peter healed the lame man who had laid helplessly at the Jerusalem Temple’s “Beautiful Gate” for years (Acts 3:1-11), a Jewish crowd gathers and Peter preaches Jesus Christ to them (verses 12-26). The lame man represents incapacitated national Israel, whose sin problem prevents her from entering into God’s blessings (Millennial Kingdom). In his sermon of chapter 4 (the context of today’s Scripture), Peter refers to that same impotent man (verses 9,10; cf. verses 14,22).

Read Peter’s words in verses 9 and 10, just before he spoke today’s Scripture: “If we this day be examined of the good deed done to the impotent man, by what means he is made whole; Be it known unto you all, and to all the people of Israel, that by the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, whom ye crucified, whom God raised from the dead, even by him doth this man stand here before you whole [healthy].” Here are the facts. The resurrected Jesus Christ, whom Israel rejected and crucified weeks or months earlier, is really responsible for the lame man’s healing, which insinuates Jesus Christ alone can save and bring Israel into a position of kingdom blessings. They must therefore stop resisting Him and trust Him as their Messiah-King!

Today’s Scripture and its next verse: “This is the stone which was set at nought of you builders, which is become the head of the corner. Neither is there salvation in any other: for there is none other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved.” As the Holy Spirit speaks to Israel through Peter, the Apostle declares how the Lord Jesus Christ is “the stone, the head of the corner,” the very same individual whom the “builders” rejected (“set at nought” means “made nothing of, despised, considered worthless”). Israel’s religious leaders whom Peter now addresses, are these very “builders!”

How are these religious leaders “builders” though? Along with the terms “stone” and “the head of the corner,” we recognize the metaphor is taken from a construction site….

The “Friends” of Jesus #7

Sunday, August 24, 2025

“And when his friends heard of it, they went out to lay hold on him: for they said, He is beside himself” (Mark 3:21 KJV).

With “friends” such as these, did Jesus need enemies? (NO!)

Indeed, people can attend Bible studies or church services for many years before they finally quit pretending. The flesh can fake it for only so long before it gives up. Regardless of what those “friends” of Christ in today’s Scripture professed to believe, we know the malicious words they said about Him will be preserved in God’s Book throughout the endless ages to come. The very existence of that record that testifies against them is far worse than they ever anticipated. How did Jesus’ earthly ministry end? Once His most trusted Apostle (Judas Iscariot) betrayed Him, “Then all the disciples forsook him, and fled” (Matthew 26:56; Mark 14:50). Finally, His chief Apostle of Israel (Peter) denied Him three times (Matthew 26:69-75; Mark 14:66-72; Luke 22:54-62; John 18:15-18,25-27).

Unfortunately, brethren in Christ, there is no guarantee our friends will always stay with us or treat us fairly. In the end, not even our beloved pastors or dear Bible teachers will necessarily be standing with us to maintain sound doctrine. They might wind up becoming Christ’s enemies instead, like His so-called “friends” of today’s Scripture. We hope and pray we ourselves will never be found in that predicament, that snare of the Devil, that apostasy (falling away from the truth)—adopting the very principles and practices we once resisted and condemned.

Paul’s final inspired words of God written in this life included, “This thou knowest, that all they which are in Asia be turned away from me; of whom are Phygellus and Hermogenes” (2 Timothy 1:15). These were his grace converts of western Turkey, his “friends” whom he had known for as much as two decades, now having abandoned him. Furthermore, he pens later, “For Demas hath forsaken me, having loved this present world, and is departed unto Thessalonica…. Only Luke is with me” (2 Timothy 4:10,11).

May we not build our Christian life on other people, for they, like we, are unfaithful. The only true friend we have is the Lord Jesus Christ—and, though we fail Him, He will never let us down. 🙂

The “Friends” of Jesus #6

Saturday, August 23, 2025

“And when his friends heard of it, they went out to lay hold on him: for they said, He is beside himself” (Mark 3:21 KJV).

With “friends” such as these, did Jesus need enemies? (NO!)

John 1:10,11: “He was in the world, and the world was made by him, and the world knew him not. He came unto his own, and his own received him not.” The Word (verse 1), God in human flesh (verse 14), Jesus Christ, entered His creation. A Jew by blood (Hebrews 2:14,16), His own nation refused Him!

“But the chief priests and elders persuaded the multitude that they should ask Barabbas, and destroy Jesus. The governor answered and said unto them, Whether of the twain will ye that I release unto you? They said, Barabbas. Pilate saith unto them, What shall I do then with Jesus which is called Christ? They all say unto him, Let him be crucified. And the governor said, Why, what evil hath he done? But they cried out the more, saying, Let him be crucified” (Matthew 27:20-23). “And it was the preparation of the passover, and about the sixth hour: and he [Pontius Pilate] saith unto the Jews, Behold your King! But they cried out, Away with him, away with him, crucify him. Pilate saith unto them, Shall I crucify your King? The chief priests answered, We have no king but Caesar” (John 19:14,15).

Long before His crucifixion, Christ commissioned His 12 Apostles in Matthew 10:25: “It is enough for the disciple that he be as his master, and the servant as his lord. If they have called the master of the house Beelzebub [‘Satan’], how much more shall they call them of his household?” If they spoke such negative words about the Lord, their words about His followers would be equally nasty. Whether it is Jesus Christ in the Little Flock, or Jesus Christ in us, the lost world is naturally inclined to dislike Him. Interestingly, a “friend” in ministry (who, for 15 years, was allegedly our side!) once told me, “The Devil does not need to bash the name of Christ because ‘Christians’ do that already!” Incidentally, he fell away from the truth some time ago. He hurried off after I greeted him at a local store.

Let us summarize and conclude this devotionals arc….

The “Friends” of Jesus #5

Friday, August 22, 2025

“And when his friends heard of it, they went out to lay hold on him: for they said, He is beside himself” (Mark 3:21 KJV).

With “friends” such as these, did Jesus need enemies? (NO!)

In today’s Scripture, the “friends” of the Lord expressed their negative opinion about Him. They alleged He was insane. Another one of these so-called “friends” is also found in the context: “And Judas Iscariot, which also betrayed him:…” (verse 19).

“Now before the feast of the passover, when Jesus knew that his hour was come that he should depart out of this world unto the Father, having loved his own which were in the world, he loved them unto the end. And supper being ended, the devil having now put into the heart of Judas Iscariot, Simon’s son, to betray him;…. I speak not of you all: I know whom I have chosen: but that the scripture may be fulfilled, He that eateth bread with me hath lifted up his heel against me…. When Jesus had thus said, he was troubled in spirit, and testified, and said, Verily, verily, I say unto you, that one of you shall betray me” (John 13:1,2,18,21). Psalm 41:9 is indeed Messiah Jesus talking about Judas Iscariot, “Yea, mine own familiar friend, in whom I trusted, which did eat of my bread, hath lifted up his heel against me.”

The “friends” of Jesus in today’s Scripture disappear from the record just as suddenly as they surfaced. Who they were and whatever became of them are unknown. Down through the 2,000 years of church history since their time though, many such “friends” of Christ have come and gone, also speaking inflammatory or incendiary words about Him. Usually, these so-called “friends” of Jesus—the people serving in “Christian” churches and at “Christian” schools—have ridiculed Him, lied about Him, and contradicted Him. Such individuals have filled our hearts and minds with so much error that it would take many earthly lifetimes just to begin fathoming it. They pillaged and killed in His name, led billions of people in their religious smugness to an eternal Devil’s Hell, imprisoned hundreds of millions in spiritual kindergarten, and on and on and on. It is they who oppose the truth in us, who seek our elimination, these purported “friends” of ours….

The “Friends” of Jesus #4

Thursday, August 21, 2025

“And when his friends heard of it, they went out to lay hold on him: for they said, He is beside himself” (Mark 3:21 KJV).

With “friends” such as these, did Jesus need enemies? (NO!)

Read 1 Corinthians 2:9-14: “[9] But as it is written, Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, the things which God hath prepared for them that love him. [10] But God hath revealed them unto us by his Spirit: for the Spirit searcheth all things, yea, the deep things of God. [11] For what man knoweth the things of a man, save the spirit of man which is in him? even so the things of God knoweth no man, but the Spirit of God. [12] Now we have received, not the spirit of the world, but the spirit which is of God; that we might know the things that are freely given to us of God. [13] Which things also we speak, not in the words which man’s wisdom teacheth, but which the Holy Ghost teacheth; comparing spiritual things with spiritual. [14] But the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God: for they are foolishness unto him: neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned.”

The Greek word for “foolishness” in verse 14 is “moria” (as in “moronic”). Unless a person accepts the Holy Spirit’s teaching ministry, God’s words (the Bible) are nonsense to that individual. That man or woman has no natural capacity to know the truths of God because such information is “spiritually discerned [judged, evaluated, perceived].” As Spanish is unintelligible to a French speaker, and Arabic is unknown to a Mandarin reader, so the Scriptures are written in a language foreign to the natural man.

Bewildered and intimidated, all the lost person can do at this point is make fun of the Bible—when the problem lies with the person rather than with the Book. Hence, Jesus’ “friends” believed He was “beside himself [crazy]” in today’s Scripture! Whatever words they heard from Him were irrational or ridiculous to them. Like children struggling to understand adults, they (spiritual children) simply could not figure out what He (a spiritual adult) was saying or doing….

For Students This is Safe

Friday, August 8, 2025

“Therefore I esteem all thy precepts concerning all things to be right; and I hate every false way” (Psalm 119:128 KJV).

As a new school year dawns, let us awake unto spiritual truth!

Although the autumnal equinox is still over a month away here in the Northern Hemisphere, summer is finally beginning to wind down for most of us. Students—with long faces and deep sighs—have returned or are beginning to return to school. As students return to the classroom, they need to be particularly mindful of the following.

Firstly, learning in and of itself is not a sin. Moses was “learned in all the wisdom of the Egyptians” (Acts 7:22). Luke was a medical doctor (Colossians 4:14). Daniel and his companions were skilled in science (Daniel 1:4). Adam was the first taxonomist (Genesis 2:19,20). The God of the Bible is never against learning new things—remember, He gave us His Holy Bible so we can have plenty to learn for all of eternity!

Secondly, what the God of the Bible opposes is when we believe/trust ideas that do not seek our best interests, that contradict the way He designed our lives to function. Certainly, we Christians should never go around believing anything and everything heard and seen. Just because the professor, preacher, pope, or president says it is true, that does not make it so. Scientific consensus has been wrong before, religion has been wrong before, politicians have been wrong before. Much of the ideas that permeate our world today are wrong.

Lastly, there are many wonderful, exciting ideas and concepts out there—medical advancements, technological breakthroughs, and so on—but there are equally detrimental ideas that will mess up your life—religious traditions, secular humanism, and other philosophies. Daily intake of the King James Bible rightly divided will cleanse our souls of the filth and foolishness that we hear and see day in and day out in this evil world system. We highly exalt God’s Word, we know it is right “concerning all things,” and we hate and ignore the error.

Have a wonderful school year in our Lord Jesus Christ! 🙂

Asset or Liability to the Establishment? #11

Wednesday, August 6, 2025

“[Our Lord Jesus Christ] Who gave himself for our sins, that he might deliver us from this present evil world, according to the will of God and our Father:…” (Galatians 1:4 KJV).

Are we assets or liabilities to Satan’s Establishment?

God bestowed spiritual gifts upon the early Body of Christ, that believers grow up into strong spiritual adults (not remain Bible babies!), for only spiritual adults can do the work of the ministry: “And he gave some, apostles; and some, prophets; and some, evangelists; and some, pastors and teachers; For the perfecting of the saints, for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ: Till we all come in the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, unto a perfect man, unto the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ:…” (Ephesians 4:11-13).

Now, with the completed Bible canon, the temporary spiritual gifts are unnecessary. All revelation from God has been given, written down in the Bible, preserved through history via a multiplicity of reliable manuscript copies, and translated for us into our language English (the King James Bible). “All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness: That the man of God may be perfect, throughly furnished unto all good works” (2 Timothy 3:16,17).

Doctrine is information or teaching worthy of our faith/trust, reproof is criticism for wrong conduct, correction is for improving poor thinking—all three are instruction in righteousness (the right path to walk!). Satan wants us to be ignorant, to not know what God wants us to know, for, if we knew what God wished we knew, we would be “perfect [spiritually mature], throughly furnished unto all good works [the very good works that are liabilities to Satan’s lie program!!!].”

We study all the Bible, Genesis to Revelation, for it is all God’s Word. Yet, we know Paul is our Apostle, Christ’s spokesman to us (Acts 26:17,18; Romans 11:13). Paul’s epistles, Romans through Philemon, describe God’s current dealings with man. If we fail to see what God is doing in the “but now,” and/or try to go back to “time past” (Scripture prior to Paul), that is a heavenly way to do the Devil’s work (serve as his assets)!

Saints, please remember this work of the ministry requires monthly financial support to operate (Galatians 6:6; Philippians 4:16-17; 2 Corinthians 9:6-7). Those who prefer electronic giving can donate securely here: https://www.paypal.me/ShawnBrasseaux. Anyone who wishes to donate by regular mail can visit https://333wordsofgrace.org/contact-us-mailing-address-for-donations/ for details. Thanks to all who give to and pray for us! Unfortunately, since our ministry audience is so large and our ministry staff is so small, I can no longer personally respond to everyone. Thanks so much for understanding in this regard. 🙂