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An apple in exchange for a paradise!
(Thomas Brooks, "Precious Remedies
Against Satan's Devices" 1652)
"Lest Satan should get an advantage of us: for
we are not ignorant of his devices." 2 Cor. 2:11
Satan has . . .
snares for the wise, and snares for the simple;
snares for hypocrites, and snares for the upright;
snares for generous souls, and snares for timorous souls;
snares for the rich, and snares for the poor;
snares for the aged, and snares for youth.
Happy are those souls that are not taken
and held in the snares that he has laid!
Satan's first device to draw the soul into sin is . . .
to present the bait, and hide the hook;
to present the golden cup, and hide the poison;
to present the sweet, the pleasure, and the profit
that may flow in upon the soul by yielding to sin,
and by hiding from the soul the wrath and misery
that will certainly follow the committing of sin.
"You will not surely die," the serpent said to the
woman. "For God knows that when you eat of it
your eyes will be opened, and you will be like
God, knowing good and evil." Genesis 3:4-5
Your eyes shall be opened, and you shall be as gods!
Here is the bait, the sweet, the pleasure, the profit.
Oh, but he hides the hook- the shame, the wrath,
and the loss that would certainly follow!
Thus Satan cheats them; giving them
an apple in exchange for a paradise!
Satan tempts us by his golden baits, and then
he leads us and leaves us in a fool's paradise.
He promises the soul honor, pleasure, profit;
but pays the soul with the greatest contempt,
shame, and loss that can be.
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