I think I was nine years old when I was walking down an alley in Chicago in my old neighborhood. It’s a Mexican neighborhood called Little Village. The majority of the people have a customary religious devotion to Roman Catholicism. As I was walking down the alley, I saw this white piece of paper. And for whatever reason, something – and when I say “something,” I mean a voice – spoke to me and said, “Go pick up that piece of paper.” As I went back to get the paper, I turned it over, and it was a black and white photocopy of the Virgin de Guadalupe. Immediately, I remembered that my mother and family members lit candles, had pictures, and put up shrines of this Virgin de Guadalupe in their rooms or kept the picture in their wallets as a representation of their devotion and love for her, and their belief in her. So I grabbed the piece of paper and put it in a picture frame, and displayed it in my room.
Later on in life, I found myself being drawn to pledge devotion to her, or to pray. So one day, in my present state of mind – that being a drug user, smoking marijuana, taking LSD, and very small portions of alcohol, a drug dealer, a gun dealer, etc – I had a need. And I had noticed in my growing up that when my family had a need, they lit a candle to the Virgin of Guadalupe. So I initiated that same approach, bought a candle, and in foolishness and ignorance of the one true God, I bent my knee to an idol.
I prayed for something specific. And only me and whatever answered me was in the room that day. That’s right. My prayer was answered, specifically answered. But one thing caught my attention, and it was this: How can a drug user, drug dealer, corrupt-minded, proud-hearted, and self-centered person pray, be heard, and be answered? Now I know I was deceived into believing somehow that this figure, or picture, or Virgin de Guadalupe had power to answer my prayers and fulfill my needs, even though I knew I was corrupt. I was deceived.
Deceived by who? What does it mean to be deceived? It means, “To cause to believe what is not true; to mislead.” In Genesis 3:1-7, we read of the misleading, the deception of the serpent – the most crafty of any of the wild animals – toward Eve. He misled her by having her believe the lie – the lie that she could be like God. He deceived her by having her take her mind, her emotions, and her conscience away from all that God had already given her, the Garden of Eden. He asked one question: “Did God really say, ‘You must not eat from any tree in the garden?’” Here we see that the deceiver’s approach was to have Eve focus first upon what she possessed, and then focus upon what she was prohibited from indulging in. The woman answered, “We may eat fruit from the trees in the garden, but God did say, ‘You must not eat fruit from the tree that is in the middle of the garden, and you must not touch it, or you will die.’” Here Satan, the deceiver, asks a question only to provoke and set the stage for the manipulation and the distortion of the truth.
Now let us go to Matthew 4:1-11. Here the deceiver is daring in challenging the Lord of Glory. He offers to God what already belongs to him, but he offers it to him to possibly tempt him and deceive him away from doing the perfect will of God the Father. If the devil would dare approach the Lord of Glory, how can we as saints be prepared when he tries to approach us and deceive us into doing contrary to the perfect will of God?
C.S. Lewis said, “Like a good chess player, Satan is always trying to maneuver you into a position where you can save your castle only by losing your bishop.” Do you know, or have you learned, how to play chess against your enemy, and in such a way that you know every move he makes, and know it before he makes it? Or are you losing your bishop in trying to keep your castle?
Elsewhere in Acts 5, the deceiver deceives Ananias and Saphira into believing that they can test the Spirit of God and win. They also believed the lie, thinking it to be true. This is where the deceiver attacks. He attacks your mind, he attacks your emotions, he attacks your conscience, and challenges you in what you already know to be true. He tempts you into possibly believe a lie, in making it out to be true.
Remember: to deceive is to cause to believe what is not true.
The Word of God says in the book of 1 Peter that he (the devil) roams around like a roaring lion, looking for someone to devour. Have you ever seen the National Geographic documentaries? Have you seen the lion pouncing? Who does he always get? The left-behind, the weak, the sick, the fragile, those who cannot defend themselves.
In Matthew 24, the Word of God speaks of many deceivers to come in the last days. They are here. They’re on your television, cable or not; they’re in your internet, they’re in your phone book, they’re your next-door neighbors. They are here.
When was the last time you played chess? Or better yet, do you know how to play chess? We’d better learn how to defend ourselves against the powers of darkness, and the rulers of this world, and the prince of the air. The Word of God says that he, the deceiver, is out to steal, kill, and destroy – you, your brother, your sister, your mother, your father, your cousin, your son, your daughter, your best friend, he doesn’t care. He’s your enemy. The problem is he’s making himself out to be your friend. Do you know how to play chess? Chess players sometimes have smiles on their faces, but their intentions are to destroy you.
Do you know how to play chess?!
Posted by Rigoberto Dominguez 
Posted by Krista Dominguez 
Posted by Krista Dominguez 
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