The Bait of Satan, 20th Anniversary Edition: Living Free from the Deadly Trap of Offense

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God never created us to live separately and independently of each other. He likes it when His children care for and nurture each other. He is frustrated when we...feel sorry for ourselves; making everyone else responsible for our happiness...an isolated person seeks only his own desire, not God's. He receives no counsel and sets himself up for deception." (p. 55) As said, Bevere is a christian, and this his book has the Scriptures as his foundation. No better foundation as that!! I was in a church for several years. The pastor was one of the best preachers in America. When I first attended that church, I would sit with my mouth open in awe of the biblical teaching that came from his mouth. How you are fallen from the heavens, O shining star, son of the morning! How you are cut down to the ground, you who weakened the nations! If your hand or your foot causes you to stumble, cut it off and throw it away; it is better for you to enter life maimed or lame than to have two hands or two feet and to be thrown into the eternal fire. And if your eye causes you to stumble, tear it out and throw it away; it is better for you to enter life with one eye than to have two eyes and to be thrown into the hell of fire."

I’m a person who will essentially do anything God wants if it’s framed under the category of responsibility to others. I’m also a person who hates dealing with conflict. God at the time was showing me that as I take care of myself, stand up for myself and say what hurts me and what I don’t like, others are blessed. If all the body were an eye, where would be the hearing? If all hearing, where would be the smelling? A deceived person, by the very nature of deception, has no possible way of knowing they are being deceived. That is, unless someone shines a light onto the issue, revealing the truth to them and exposing the lies for what they truly are...lies and deception. I was given such a revelation this past week, when I read "THE BAIT OF SATAN: Living Free from the Deadly Trap of Offense” by John Bevere. I heard an unusual testimony about a minister in the Philippines. Friends of mine who had known him from a previous ministry showed me an article telling about his experiences. For our presentable members have no need, but God tempered the Body together, giving more abundant honor to the member having need;The man had resisted the call of God on his life for several years because of his business success. He was making a large amount of money. His disobedience eventually caught up with him, and he was rushed to the hospital because of heart failure. If we keep the love of God as our motivation, we will not fail. Love never fails. When we love others the way Jesus loves us, we will be free even if the other person chooses not to be reconciled to us...the love of God is the key to freedom from the baited trap of offense. This must be an abounding love...that continually grows...so many in our society today are deceived by a superficial love, a love that talks but does not act. The love that will keep us from stumbling lays down its life selflessly--even for the good of an enemy. When we walk in this kind of love, we cannot be seduced into taking the bait of Satan." (pp. 162-163) However, when we read Psalm 1:1-2 and 119:165 we see that it says, "Blessed is the man...[whose] delight is in the law of the Lord...great peace have they which love [or delight in] Thy law; and nothing shall offend them." Bevere points out that when we choose to delight in the Word of God, even in the midst of adversity, we avoid being offended. He says that group number two often is guided by inaccurate and distorted information, and they are hurt and their understanding is darkened because they judge by assumption, appearance and hearsay. The book doesn't lend any credit to the discernment of abuse situations and the necessary upholding of boundaries. (Yes, forgiveness is absolutely required of us. But the restoration of relationship is NOT.)

Bevere is a little sparse on the empathy/compassion in his presentation. Some offenses are absolutely petty--a result of foolish human pride. (Perhaps even the majority these days!) But some hurts are deep, traumatic, and extensively damaging. Bevere doesn't really spend enough time on tending to the deeper wounds inflicted upon the innocent... and it's a real shame. A missed opportunity. Pride then leads to selfishness, as we become more concerned with the preservation of ourselves than with the well-being of others. This selfishness causes the offended Christian to become focused inward and we lose sight of what God is doing in and through others. We become guarded and defensive; seeking to protect our “rights”, rather than with open arms being ready to embrace others and come to their defense! This selfish pride causes us to view ourselves as victims, but just because we may have been mistreated does not mean we suddenly have the right to hold on to an offense! For as Bevere writes, “If we don’t risk being hurt, we cannot give unconditional love. Unconditional love gives others the right to hurt us.” (p. 16) Second, the author's hermeneutics and exegesis are downright awful! Consider the "proof text" that he bases the thesis for the book on: John Bevere is a christian writter, he has written also more books in this field of his expertice!! But, please let me know on which planet you are living, because let me tell you, here in this old and mean earth sadly to say exists other rules and regulations.. fair play is a foreign word here!!One of the many things I liked in this book was when Bevere showed, in chapters 9 and 10, the difference between: (a) Jesus being WILLING to offend various people because He knew it would either expose a deception or lie they had believed in error, or because He was not willing to bend or avoid the truth, and (b) Jesus being UNWILLING to offend someone if it would not have served a greater purpose...even if he would have been fully justified in doing so! It showed me: There is both a time to offend and a time when it is wiser not to offend. This is an easy-to-read book that I read as a daily devotional. It is immersed with quotes from the Bible that expand into real life stores with advice on how to lead and live a better life as a Christian believer. The Bait of Satan exposes one of the most deceptive snares Satan uses to get believers out of the will of God--offense. This trap restrains countless Christians, severs relationships, and widens the gulfs between us. Jesus said, "It is impossible that no offenses should come" (Luke 17:1). Although you will encounter offense, you can choose how you will react. And the eye cannot say to the hand, “I have no need of you”; nor again the head to the feet, “I have no need of you.”