Zebulan Dula
First Year
Book Report 2
11/07/12
Reflections On The Bait of Satan

In Luke 17:1, Jesus says, “It is impossible that no offenses should come.” The bait of Satan is basically offense. 2 Timothy 2:24-26 says, “And a servant of the Lord must not quarrel but be gentle to all, able to teach, patient, in humility correcting those who are in opposition, if God perhaps will grant them repentance, so that they may know the truth,and that they may come to their senses and escape the snare of the devil, having been taken captive by him to do his will.” This scripture makes it clear that when we bit the bait, there is only one outcome, and that is that we are doing the will of Satan. Offense takes many different forms, so here are some common offense causing situations: Someone says or does something against our sense of justice, then We feel we are owed something as a result. Something good happens to someone else, and we feel the need to justify ourselves, perhaps finding something good that we’ve done or experienced as well, completely missing the opportunity to rejoice with our friend. Someone overlooks something you did, and you feel you deserve recognition. It is important to recognize that offense can be either real or perceived, but either way it is just as powerful in its hold upon our hearts. In The Bait Of Satan John Bevere makes its clear that we must recognize is that offense is always a choice. In the same way that two people can be in the same situation, and one feels humiliated and the other doesn’t notice. Offense is also an inward reaction to outward events. It is a decision of the heart. That means that it is never beyond our control.

The first principle I chose was gold being refined. Many people today do not see their true heart condition. They are cloaked in pride. Pride is how the enemy keeps people from seeing their condition. Most often, people believe they are the victim in the situation. People are blinded by pride causing them not to see the bitterness and offense they are harboring within. However, Jesus says there is a cure for this. In Revelation 3:18 Jesus says, “I counsel you to buy from Me gold refined in the fire.” Refined gold is pliable and soft, free from corrosion and other substances. Only when gold that is combined with other metals like copper, iron, and nickel that is is hardened and becomes less pliable and corrupted. The more of the foreign metals put in the gold, the harder it becomes. On the opposite hand, the less of the other metals, the more flexible and soft the gold is. The picture here is that our heart is like gold. A pure heart is soft, tender, and pliable. Hebrews 3:13 tells us that our hearts are hardened through deceitful sins. If we do not break down pride and deal with an offense, it will produce fruit of sin. That substance of sin hardens the heart just like outside metals do to gold. When this happens, people lose sensitivity, tenderness of the heart, and strain the ability to hear God’s voice. God does not want His children to be in that state. The first step in refining gold is to grind it into a powder and mix it with something called flux. The mixture is placed in the furnace with intense heat. The foreign metals and impurities are pulled to the flux and rise up to the surface. The gold stays at the bottom because it is heavier. The impurities are removed leaving the pure gold. 1 Peter 1:6-7 says, “In this you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while, if need be, you have been grieved by various trials, that the genuineness of your faith, being much more precious than gold that perishes, though it is tested by fire, may be found to praise, honor, and glory at the revelation of Jesus Christ.” God will refine us with afflictions, tribulations, and trials, the heat of which separates impurities like unforgiveness, bitterness, and anger from the character of God in our lives. Sin very easily hides where there is no heat of trials and afflictions.

The second principle that I chose was The dedicated heart of Joseph. Joseph was despised by his brother because he was Jacob’s favorite son. Joseph had favor from his father and had received a special coat of many colors from his father also. Joseph had 2 dreams showing that he will be over his family. He told his brothers about the dreams and they hated him even more. They plotted to kill him. they took him and threw him in a pit and left him to die. The brothers took his coat of many colors and put animal’s blood on it and gave it to their father and lied to him saying Joseph was attacked and killed by a wild beast. The brothers then had the idea to sell him as a slave so that they could make money by selling him as a slave. By these events Joseph’s brothers stripped him from ever receiving his father’s name and his inheritance. Joseph’s identity was literally stripped away from him. Joseph was sold as a slave to a foreign nation. In that day when you were sold as a slave, especially to a foreign nation, you remained a slave until you die and your children are born slaves and remain slaves until they die. It probably seemed like his God given dream would never be fulfilled. He was now the property of another man. This man to whom he now belonged to was named Potiphar. Potiphar was an officer to Pharaoh and a captain of the guard. Joseph served Potiphar for about ten years. As time progressed Joseph found favor with Potiphar and was treated well. So much so that Potiphar had set Joseph over his household and all he had. Just when things seemed to be going so well, the wife of Potiphar was scheming evil things within herself. She had a strong lustful spirit and would try seduce Joseph to commit adultery with him. She would try this every day but Joseph would refuse. One day she was alone with Joseph in the house and she trapped him in a corner and tried her very hardest to get him to lie with her but Joseph refused and ran out leaving his robe clutched in her hand. She was ashamed when Joseph did that and screamed out that he raped her. Potiphar had Joseph tossed into Pharaoh’s prison. In this prison there was no light or warmth. Prisoners were only given enough bread and water to barley survive so they would suffer. Joseph had now gone as low as a person could go without actually being dead. Joseph probably thought about his honest service and integrity toward his master for over ten years, how he was more loyal than Potiphar’s wife, and how he fled daily from sexual immorality. He might have thought, “after all this, my reward is living imprisoned in a dungeon?” He most likely had thoughts like, “how could God allow this?”, “the more I try to do right, the worse it gets”, “is this how a loving and faithful God treats His servants?” Ultimately, Joseph still had the right to choose how he would respond to what had happened to him. Joseph probably did not realize that all along this was God’s process to prepare him to rule. Joseph ultimately had to learn obedience by what he suffered. Many times when we realize God could have prevented our whole mess, and did not, we have a tendency to blame Him. I think the question for Joseph was, was he going to hold fast the promise he had, and seek God for its purpose? The time in prison for Joseph was a time of sifting and a time of opportunity. There were two prisoners with him. Both of these men had bad dreams and Joseph interpreted the dreams. One man was going to be restored, while the other man was to be executed. Joseph asked the man that was to be restored to remember him when he regained favor with Pharaoh. Two years passed without hearing from the man who was restored. There was yet again another chance to hold offense. Pharaoh then had a scary dream and none of his magicians or wise men could tell him what the dream meant. The restored man remember that Joseph interpreted his dream and informed Pharaoh. Joseph was brought to Pharaoh immediately. Joseph informed Pharaoh that the dream meant there was a famine coming and instructed him wisely about how to prepare for the crisis. The Pharaoh promoted Joseph second in command over the whole kingdom. When the famine did come, Joseph’s brothers and family had to come to Egypt to ask for food. If Joseph had made the decision to take offense and hate his brothers for what they did to him, when he got into power he could have had them killed and not get in trouble. If he would have killed his brothers, eleven of the twelve tribes of Israel would not exist. Judah, one of the twelve is the line in which Jesus descended. If they were killed the lineage in which Jesus came through would have been messed up. Joseph instead had compassion for his family and gave them grain for free and ended up giving the some of the best land in Egypt. Joseph ended up blessing those who cursed him and loving those who hated him (Matthew 5:44).

The third principle that I chose was the fearful heart David had for the Lord’s anointed. In the beginning King Saul and David were very close and King Saul loved David very much. After battle King Saul and David came back to the city and people were chanting King Saul has killed his thousands and David has killed his ten thousands. From that day on, King Saul hated David. King Saul tried to kill David two times while he was playing his harp. King Saul did not like David because he knew the Lord was with David and not himself. David was then forced to run for his life. The only place David had to go was the wilderness. All David probably thought was why is this happening? The promise was coming to be and now it is shattered. King Saul is God’s anointed. What could I possibly do? King Saul is God’s man over God’s nation. David ran from cave to cave. He ate scraps of the beasts of the wilderness. He was hunted by the same men he fought beside. Why would God allow this? How could God plan for this to happen? This was a good time for David to become offended. King Saul was determined at all cost to kill David. King Saul slaughtered a whole city because David had been sheltered there. One day when three thousand warriors were set out to look for David, King Saul decided to rest in the very cave David was hiding in. While King Saul was resting, he removed his robe. David was able to sneak and cut a patch out of the robe. David could have killed King Saul, but he did not. When King Saul left the cave, David yelled out to him: “My father, my father!” Basically David was saying, “Do you see my heart? Please be a a father to me.” Hope still burned in David’s heart. Yet King Saul still wanted to kill David. David had a second chance to kill King Saul in his sleep when he snuck into their camp site. This was a test of David’s heart to see what he would do. He refused to kill King Saul, because as far as he was concerned, King Saul was still the Lord’s anointed. David decided to love with God’s love and gave the situation to God. God takes care of avenging His children.

In conclusion, offense is a very serious thing. Just like any sin, if offense is not dealt with, it will grow and continue to grow until it kills you unless you deal with it. Although offense is seen as one sin, it includes many components such as pride, bitterness, unforgiveness, anger, and resentment. In Luke 17:1, Jesus says, “It is impossible that no offenses should come. When offenses arise in our lives it is ultimately our decision of how we react to them. We must remain spiritually fit in the Word of God and in prayer to maintain a heart of pure gold. We should keep in mind that if we offend we could very well kill a brother or sister spiritually causing a whole lineage of destinies to be hindered. We also must let God handle the avenging. It is our place to forgive.