Deception: The Enemy's Primary Tactic
Our enemy, the devil, is crafty. He is scheming. He is wily. Jesus called him “a liar and the father of lies” (John 8:44 ESV). And from Genesis to Revelation, we read about his trickery and deceit—this “deceiver of the whole world” (Revelation 12:9 ESV). It’s no wonder, then, that the enemy’s primary tactic is deception. He roams about the earth looking for those whom he can deceive and thereby devour.
As a seasoned leader, the apostle Paul was aware of this major tactic. It was something that concerned him when he was at the end of his third missionary journey, circling back to revisit the churches he had established on earlier trips. The church at Ephesus was one such church. The Ephesian church met in multiple locations in the city of Ephesus, and it was a thriving, flourishing church at the time. It was one of the chief apostolic centers that Paul had founded. When Paul stopped in Miletus on his third trip, he called for the elders of Ephesus to meet him.
Aware that this may be the last time he would be able to speak to these leaders he had trained and mentored, he sent word for them to travel the 50-mile journey from Ephesus to Miletus. His heart was set to encourage them and warn them of what he discerned could potentially harm the Ephesian flock of God. With passion, tears, and his heart wrapped around the elders, he said:
And now, behold, I am going to Jerusalem, constrained by the Spirit, not knowing what will happen to me there, except that the Holy Spirit testifies to me that in every city that imprisonment and afflictions await me. But I do not account my life of any value nor as precious to myself, if only I may finish my course and the ministry that I received from the Lord…. And now, behold, I know that none of you among whom I have gone about proclaiming the kingdom will see my face again.... Pay careful attention to yourselves and to all the flock, in which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers, to care for the church of God, which he obtained with his own blood. I know that after my departure fierce wolves will come in among you, not sparing the flock; and from among you and from among your own selves will arise men speaking twisted things, to draw away the disciples after them. Therefore be alert, remembering that for three years I did not cease night or day to admonish every one with tears. And now I commend you to God and to the word of his grace, which is able to build you up and to give you the inheritance among all those who are sanctified (Acts 20:22–32 ESV).
Paul warned the elders about several things in this passage. And the reason behind his admonishing them in this way is because Paul knew and understood a few things:
He knew that what began pure can become tainted.
He knew that what started powerfully can become weak over time.
He knew that what originated in heaven can become hijacked by hell.
And he knew that what God built in partnership with man’s obedience can ultimately become corrupted and co-opted because of man’s rebellion and Satan’s deceptive influence.
How is it that something pure can become corrupted? How is it that something motivated by heaven can become fueled by hell? How is it that something powerful can become weak and powerless?
It all boils down to Satan’s primary tactic of deception. Deception undermines. Deception decays. Deception corrodes. It takes away the foundations and the footings. And this was what the apostle Paul foresaw could happen after he would no longer be around to look out for flock at Ephesus.
If we meditate on the text and try to picture it with our mind’s eye in our day, Paul would be sitting with the elders around a conference table, pleading with them, “Leaders, you’ve got to keep this pure. You’ve got to keep Jesus as the main thing. You’ve got to listen to the Word of God. You’ve got to be leaders that pray.” And we can see the elders looking at him and saying, “Paul, why are you so emotional about this? Look at the stat books. Look at the growth. Look at the salvations and baptisms. Look at what God’s doing. Look at how the new locations are popping up all over the place in the city. We’re overturning idols, and there’s breakthrough and miracles. Why can’t you just celebrate the victories?”
But in the back of Paul’s mind, he knew that the enemy was not going to leave what God had started uncontested. He knew that, once he was no longer there, the enemy was going to work his way into the elders and the flock and even outsiders through cunning and deception. So, he warned them about falling prey to the enemy themselves, where instead of being shepherds who nurtured and cared for the flock of God, they acted like wolves dressed as sheep.
The King James Version translates, “Pay careful attention to yourselves,” as “Take heed to yourselves” (Acts 20:28). What were they supposed to take heed about? That they were in the Faith. That they were paying attention to the state of their relationship with Jesus and were not succumbing to the deceptiveness of sin in selfish ambition or self-seeking. These elders needed other elders, other shepherds, who could pastor them. True shepherds, good leaders, must have shepherds or leaders in their lives for accountability—to ask them the difficult questions and, like Paul, to warn and admonish them in their leadership.
The job of a shepherd in a church is not to have his or her own voice, but it’s to amplify the voice of the Good Shepherd, Jesus. And ultimately, it’s to defend the flocks of God with their very lives. It’s to pay careful attention to what’s happening among the flock and what’s happening in and around the flock.
Wolves, on the other hand, are predators. They’re false teachers or influencers that try to come in from the outside or rise up from the leadership within. And the Ephesian elders were admonished to beware of wolves, keep the sheep, feed the sheep, lead the sheep, and defend the sheep against the wolves.
Ignatius, one of the early Church Fathers, wrote in his memoirs that, although the church at Ephesus went through a season of decline in deception, because the leaders received these words of Paul prophetically spoken years earlier, they went into a season of prayer and fasting. The Ephesian church repented, and God renewed the lampstand of first love back to them. So, they adhered; they listened to the admonition of Paul. And so should we.
“Pay careful attention to yourselves and to all the flock.” Don’t be corrupted by the devil’s deception. Stay pure. Stay watchful. Stay vigilant.
