Page 28 - Youth Discipleship Student Textbook

Notice he concentrates his efforts on the minds of people. He attempts to alter the way they think. If
he can get them to justify their sin or just not think about it, he is pleased. His ultimate goal is to bring
about the destruction of as many souls as possible in his rebellion against God.

That’s why God tells us how to avoid his deception. Psalm 1: 1-6 says,

Blessed is the man who walks not in the counsel of the wicked,
nor stands in the way of sinners, nor sits in the seat of scoffers;
[b]
2 but his delight is in the law of the LORD, and on his law he meditates day and night.
3 He is like a tree planted by streams of water
that yields its fruit in its season, and its leaf does not wither.
In all that he does, he prospers.
4 The wicked are not so, but are like chaff that the wind drives away.
5 Therefore the wicked will not stand in the judgment, nor sinners in the congregation of the righteous;
6 for the LORD knows the way of the righteous, but the way of the wicked will perish.

Satan has a plan for youth

Satan hates God. As such, he hates all believers in God. He hates those who follow Christ in obedience
to His commandments. He does not want youth to be discipled in following Jesus. His plan is quite
simple and very effective.

His plan is PREVENT a person from believing in Christ and in obeying Him. He will do everything in his
power to make sure this is NOT the route that a young person will take with his life. So how can he
sidetrack them?

He does so through three means. I John 2:16 says,

For everything in the world--the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride
of life--comes not from the Father but from the world.

He has some help: our old sin nature. Everyone is born with one. That nature is automatically in
rebellion against God. Every person will naturally lust after things that will please them. They will seek
to enjoy the pleasures of the world and become prideful. All Satan must do is to dangle these things
before a person’s eyes, and he captures the vast majority of people. He tempts them to seek their own
things – to become self-centered. He seeks to convince them that the things of the world will satisfy
their inner thirsts. That why Satan uses the culture of our day which has so universally turned from God
to take away the hearts of the lost.

John Bunyan wrote of this ploy in his book, Pilgrim’s Progress. He described how Christian and Faithful
came into the city of Vanity Fair. Everyone in the city was consumed with enjoying life to the fullest.
They lived for pleasure and entertainment. “Eat, drink, and be merry, and don’t think about the future!”
was their moto. In fact, just the presence of Christian and Faithful brough such a disturbance to the city
that Faithful was martyred and Christian fled for his life.

27