This morning I was on the phone ministering to a man who had been diagnosed with cancer.  He was a Christian and taught Sunday School.  He related to me he had been anointed with oil and prayed for by the Elders of the church, and decided that was that, he was healed by the stripes of Jesus.  Well, he went back to the doctor; they told him the tests indicated he had cancer and they scheduled him for treatment.  Disappointment set in, now what? he thought he was healed!  And so this scenario has repeated itself countless times during the years I’ve been in the ministry.  The devil doesn’t need any new tricks; the old ones have been working for centuries.  What am I talking about here?
   We need to go clear back to the Garden of Eden to get our answer.  We read the following accounts in Genesis chapter 2 and 3:
Gen 2:16  And the LORD God commanded the man, saying, Of every tree of the garden thou mayest freely eat:
Gen 2:17  But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it: for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die.

Gen 3:1  Now the serpent was more subtil than any beast of the field which the LORD God had made. And he said unto the woman, Yea, hath God said, Ye shall not eat of every tree of the garden?
Gen 3:2  And the woman said unto the serpent, We may eat of the fruit of the trees of the garden:
Gen 3:3  But of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the garden, God hath said, Ye shall not eat of it, neither shall ye touch it, lest ye die.
Gen 3:4  And the serpent said unto the woman, Ye shall not surely die:
Gen 3:5  For God doth know that in the day ye eat thereof, then your eyes shall be opened, and ye shall be as gods, knowing good and evil.
Gen 3:6  And when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree to be desired to make one wise, she took of the fruit thereof, and did eat, and gave also unto her husband with her; and he did eat.
Gen 3:7  And the eyes of them both were opened, and they knew that they were naked; and they sewed fig leaves together, and made themselves aprons.
Gen 3:8  And they heard the voice of the LORD God walking in the garden in the cool of the day: and Adam and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the LORD God amongst the trees of the garden.
Gen 3:9  And the LORD God called unto Adam, and said unto him, Where art thou?
Gen 3:10  And he said, I heard thy voice in the garden, and I was afraid, because I was naked; and I hid myself.
Gen 3:11  And he said, Who told thee that thou wast naked? Hast thou eaten of the tree, whereof I commanded thee that thou shouldest not eat?
Gen 3:12  And the man said, The woman whom thou gavest to be with me, she gave me of the tree, and I did eat.
     Exactly what happened here?  God had plainly told Adam and Eve not to eat of the tree of knowledge of good and evil, and what would happen if they did.  Now, they had dominion over ALL the earth and everything in it, that is, except the Tree of knowledge of good and evil.  That one was off limits, and they both knew it.  Imagine that, you having dominion over all the earth and everything in it except for just one tree, ONE TREE!  So what happened?  This is the first example of how subtle Satan is, he spoke to Eve concerning that tree to see if she was sure she was not allowed to eat of it, and she was sure, and even told Satan what God had told them.  Yes, she was sure she couldn’t eat of it.  So Satan convinced her how desirable the tree was.  Was she still sure?  Yes, almost.  Then he told her she would NOT surely die if she ate of it.  Was she still sure?  Kind of, but no, not really, so she ate of it and she did not immediately drop dead, so she gave of it to Adam, and he also ate.  We don’t know why at this point, because surely he would have recognized the fruit, unless Eve had peeled it or something, the Bible doesn’t tell us.  Nonetheless, they both ate of it and everything went downhill for them and all of us from there.
    What is the bottom line here?  Let’s pay close attention: God said such and such, and Satan told Adam and Eve, no, God did not mean what He said, you can’t believe Him, and you should believe me instead.  Well, they fell for Satan’s lie and we all know the tragic results of that.  Now, fast forward that to today.  We can plainly read in the Holy Bible what is written about Christ Jesus, and what He came to earth and did, and how He always spoke the truth.
 And we also read how Satan came to Jesus to tempt Him to disbelieve what His heavenly Father had told Him, as well as what was written in the Scriptures.  In fact, Satan even put Jesus on the pinnacle of the temple and tried to get Him to jump off, using Scripture in trying to convince Jesus He would not be hurt.  Let’s have a look:
Mat 4:1  Then was Jesus led up of the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted of the devil.
Mat 4:2  And when he had fasted forty days and forty nights, he was afterward an hungred.
Mat 4:3  And when the tempter came to him, he said, If thou be the Son of God, command that these stones be made bread.
Mat 4:4  But he answered and said, It is written, Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God.
Mat 4:5  Then the devil taketh him up into the holy city, and setteth him on a pinnacle of the temple,
Mat 4:6  And saith unto him, If thou be the Son of God, cast thyself down: for it is written, He shall give his angels charge concerning thee: and in their hands they shall bear thee up, lest at any time thou dash thy foot against a stone.
Mat 4:7  Jesus said unto him, It is written again, Thou shalt not tempt the Lord thy God.
     Oh, the devil is slick, isn’t he?  And do you think he won’t try to do the same thing to YOU??
The man I spoke of at the first was SURE he was healed by the stripes of Jesus, that is, until the doctor told him he wasn’t, and had the test results to back it up.  Was the doctor Satan?  No, of course not, but Satan uses people, and he even uses people we TRUST, to try to convince us that God’s promises are not true.  Maybe even people we LOVE.  Who do we believe?  Do we believe this Word of God in Psalm 103:2-3:
Psa 103:2  Bless the LORD, O my soul, and forget not all his benefits:
Psa 103:3  Who forgiveth all thine iniquities; who healeth all thy diseases;
OR, do we believe the pain and symptoms in our body, the doctor’s report, and what we see in the mirror?  For many, that’s a no-brainer, we believe the doctor’s report.  After all, he’s an educated person, an expert in his field, and besides all this, many have been prayed for to be healed and they died, so surely God didn’t mean quite all He said.  Or did He?
    You see, that’s what YOU have to settle today.  YOU have to be sure.  You can’t rely on ME being sure, although I am, and that’s why I haven’t had a sick day ever since believing Him, and it’s been nineteen years now.  YOU must know on whom you have believed, and yes, your life here on earth depends upon it.  While you think you may be saved, let me assure you, Satan will work on you until you’re not even sure of your salvation any more.
 Let me end with this account from Revelation 21:
Rev 21:5  And he that sat upon the throne said, Behold, I make all things new. And he said unto me, Write: for these words are true and faithful.
Rev 21:6  And he said unto me, It is done. I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end. I will give unto him that is athirst of the fountain of the water of life freely.
Rev 21:7  He that overcometh shall inherit all things; and I will be his God, and he shall be my son.
Rev 21:8  But the fearful, and unbelieving, and the abominable, and murderers, and whoremongers, and sorcerers, and idolaters, and all liars, shall have their part in the lake which burneth with fire and brimstone: which is the second death.
    What did God list as FIRST things among the things that would get someone thrown into the Lake of Fire?  Drinking? Smoking? Gambling? Chasing women (or men)?  You may be surprised at what God sees as the greatest sins: the fearful, and unbelieving.  You see, if you don’t trust and believe God and take Him at His Word, you’re LOST, I don’t care how often you go to church, or how much money or time you give to ministry, not because I said so, but because GOD SAID SO.  Satan uses fear and lies to try to get you to doubt the integrity of the Word of God.  He did it to Eve, and he will do it to YOU.  Don’t think you’re immune to his attacks.  The only way you CAN defeat Satan is by being SURE in your heart of everything God said.  Not “almost sure”, not “kind of sure”, but SURE!  Remember, everything Satan does is centered upon getting YOU to doubt the Word of God.  He has destroyed many good people by doing so.  I don’t want you be one of them.  Now, let me ask you again: ARE YOU SURE you believe God’s Word?