The Gospel According to Satan Quotes

“As with most things, context is everything. And in a religious context in which sin is rarely if ever mentioned (much less rebuked), the cross of Christ seems more a bug than a feature. The prevailing message is “live your best life now,” “become a better you,” and “think better, live better,” but the answer is no: God’s greatest pleasure isn’t our happiness. The Osteens and a handful of other prosperity gospel preachers have made this message their stock and trade. It is self-actualization masquerading as Christianity, and it resembles the spirituality of the New Age more than the spirituality of the Bible.”
― Jared C. Wilson, The Gospel According to Satan: Eight Lies about God that Sound Like the Truth

“The cross is an offense, a scandal (1 Cor. 1:18; Gal. 5:11). We should beware any view of the cross that seeks to make it more palatable to “more enlightened” sensibilities. We should be on guard against any theory of the atonement that promises fulfillment, beauty, and enlightenment apart from the blood of Jesus.”
― Jared C. Wilson, The Gospel According to Satan: Eight Lies about God that Sound Like the Truth

“Cuando pides cualquier cosa «en el nombre de Jesús», lo que eso realmente significa es que quieres que el nombre de Jesús sea magnificado más que todo lo demás. Y si eso significa que el Padre debe decir que no a tus peticiones —ya sean de sanidad, consuelo, «cosas» o felicidad—, entonces «no» es mejor que «sí» si tan solo el nombre de Cristo es exaltado.”
― Jared C. Wilson, El Evangelio Seg�n Satan�s: Ocho Mentiras Acerca de Dios Que Suenan Como La Verdad

“Sin is fundamentally stupid. Oh, it has that logic of immediacy to it, the appealing apparent sensibility of pleasure—of fulfillment, beauty, and enlightenment—but it always bids us make the most of time by wasting it.”
― Jared C. Wilson, The Gospel According to Satan: Eight Lies about God that Sound Like the Truth

“Happiness is dependent upon our circumstances. Joy is dependent upon our Savior. This is why, though sad times are promised to believers (John 16:33), we are also promised the gift of joy (John 15:11; Gal. 5:22).”
― Jared C. Wilson, The Gospel According to Satan: Eight Lies about God that Sound Like the Truth

“The devil knows he doesn’t need the Church of Satan to get you. He just needs something shiny.”
― Jared C. Wilson, The Gospel According to Satan: Eight Lies about God that Sound Like the Truth

“Es una verdad difícil de aceptar, pero el Señor siempre está más interesado en profundizar nuestro sentido de necesidad de él que en darnos razones para no necesitarlo.”
― Jared C. Wilson, El Evangelio Seg�n Satan�s: Ocho Mentiras Acerca de Dios Que Suenan Como La Verdad

“So, by all means, seize the day if you’re just interested in having a little fun. Seize eternity if you’re interested in living forever.”
― Jared C. Wilson, The Gospel According to Satan: Eight Lies about God that Sound Like the Truth

“What he means is, dying isn’t the worst thing that can happen to you. Dying after you die is the worst thing that can happen to you. The second death is far worse—infinitely worse—than the first. Satan will do whatever is in his power to keep you from thinking about that.”
― Jared C. Wilson, The Gospel According to Satan: Eight Lies about God that Sound Like the Truth

“The truth is that your truth is relative. The truth is not.”
― Jared C. Wilson, The Gospel According to Satan: Eight Lies about God that Sound Like the Truth

“Consider the words of G. K. Chesterton: Some dogma, we are told, was credible in the twelfth century, but is not credible in the twentieth. You might as well say that a certain philosophy can be believed on Mondays, but cannot be believed on Tuesdays. You might as well say of a view of the cosmos that it was suitable to half-past three, but not suitable to half-past four. What a man can believe depends upon his philosophy, not upon the clock or the century.6”
― Jared C. Wilson, The Gospel According to Satan: Eight Lies about God that Sound Like the Truth

“I want to share with you some other words from my friend Ray. I hope they will be as big an encouragement to you as they are to me. This is our ultimate accountability. Let’s get ready. Let’s live with purpose. Let’s live in repentance. Let’s be aware, moment by moment, that right now counts forever. What we think, what we say, what we feel, what we do and don’t do—we matter. We matter to Christ. We will matter forever. And very soon we will “report in.” This is solemnizing. This is dignifying. It is also encouraging. What if, as you stand there before Christ your Judge on that great and final day, surrounded by all the redeemed, each one awaiting his or her moment before the Lord—what if, standing there before him, he asks, “Everyone, I want to know who among you appreciated this person’s ministry? Who would like to bear witness to how he helped you for my sake?” And no one says anything. Total silence. Awkward silence. Everyone is embarrassed. Everyone is thinking, Would somebody please say something? You are standing there wondering, So my entire life comes down to this? What a failure I am! But then one voice does break that terrible silence. The Lord himself stands and says, “Well, I appreciated his ministry!” It’s an improbable scenario. But putting it like that does isolate the most urgent question of all. Is the approval of Jesus enough for you and for me? Do we love him enough, do we revere him enough, that his judgment is the one we’re living for? We care what others think. We want to please them (1 Cor. 10:33). But only one opinion will count finally and forever.5 And if I could add one more thing to what Ray has said here, it would be this: The devil has a file on us, to be sure. But the Lord’s got one too (Rev. 21:27).”
― Jared C. Wilson, The Gospel According to Satan: Eight Lies about God that Sound Like the Truth

“The blood of the Lamb is too precious not to be applied to our own doorposts.”
― Jared C. Wilson, The Gospel According to Satan: Eight Lies about God that Sound Like the Truth

“I hope you are seeing what’s at stake here. The problem with affirming Christus victor and the ransom motif or any other facet of the atonement to the exclusion of penal substitution is that we render impersonal what Christ did on the cross. He conquered the powers and the principalities and death itself. He achieved justice for the socially downtrodden and persecuted. He did anything and everything, all the wonderful and multitudinous things the Bible says he did, but he didn’t do the one thing that would make me right with God. He didn’t take my punishment.”
― Jared C. Wilson, The Gospel According to Satan: Eight Lies about God that Sound Like the Truth

“In a book chapter dedicated to Romans 3, Mark Dever wrote: The point is that Christ’s death removed the penalty of our sin by removing the wrath of God. Our sin is not the primary object of this sacrifice. It is not merely an expiation, or covering of sin, that takes place. No, the main point of Christ’s sacrifice is not covering over our sins, though he does that, but rather the satisfaction of God’s right wrath against us because of our sins. That’s what the word propitiation indicates—the satisfaction of God’s holy anger against us.11”
― Jared C. Wilson, The Gospel According to Satan: Eight Lies about God that Sound Like the Truth

“Theologian Michael Vlach has done an admirable job chronicling the appearances of penal substitution in the writings of the fathers,9 citing Clement of Rome, Ignatius, the Epistle of Barnabas, the Epistle to Diognetus, Justin Martyr, Eusebius of Caesarea, Eusebius of Emesa, Hilary of Poitiers, Athanasius, Basil the Great, Gregory of Nazianzus, Ambrose of Milan, John Chrysostom, Cyril of Alexandria, Gregory the Great, Severus of Antioch, Oecumenius, and of course Augustine of Hippo. Vlach’s significant documentation spans the first ten centuries of the orthodox church.”
― Jared C. Wilson, The Gospel According to Satan: Eight Lies about God that Sound Like the Truth

“My new friend expressed distaste for the idea of a wrathful God. He used words like “bloodthirsty” and “child abuse.” He didn’t just prefer to prioritize other facets of the atonement; he repudiated penal substitution. This is an important point to consider, because nearly all adherents to PSA whom I’m aware of do not deny that there are other facets of Christ’s atoning work. These include views like the following: 1.​CHRISTUS VICTOR: Christ’s atoning work on the cross was about destroying the powers of evil, sin, and death, overthrowing Satan and his schemes and conquering death. 2.​RANSOM: Christ’s atoning work pays what is owed for rescuing human souls from bondage (depending on the view, from bondage to Satan, sin, or the Father). 3.​MORAL EXEMPLAR: Christ’s atoning work serves as an example of selfless sacrifice, undoing the self-interest of sin and providing a model for sinners in living godly lives.”
― Jared C. Wilson, The Gospel According to Satan: Eight Lies about God that Sound Like the Truth

“More and more believers are listening to authors and pastors, mainly in the progressive or even postevangelical Christian tribes, who deny PSA and, like Young, refer to it with the worst language imaginable, saying something like, “To believe in PSA is to be a worshiper of a bloodthirsty god who violates his own laws against child sacrifice in order to commit cosmic abuse and murder against his own son.” Well, is that all? Over the last several years, I have noticed this view gaining more ground in the evangelical marketplace and even among several circles of ministers I once considered likeminded friends. Denying PSA has become common among younger left-leaning Christians, the oft-called progressive evangelicals who listen to voices like Brian Zahnd, Pete Enns, or Richard Rohr.”
― Jared C. Wilson, The Gospel According to Satan: Eight Lies about God that Sound Like the Truth

“This is the caricature of PSA that Young clumsily props up so that he might clumsily knock it down. Referring to a bloodthirsty god who needs to have his sense of righteous indignation appeased, Young wants readers to think he is distinguishing a merciful, gracious God from a pagan conception of a capricious deity. Instead, he diminishes the holiness of God, downplays the seriousness of sin, and dismisses biblical language about God’s ways with men.”
― Jared C. Wilson, The Gospel According to Satan: Eight Lies about God that Sound Like the Truth

“In direct response to the idea that we need to just “let go and let God,” the late, great R. C. Sproul said: We’re to be actively engaged, not quietly waiting for God to do it for us, but at the same time not depending on our own powers and our own resources but realizing that this is a synergistic operation—a cooperative enterprise. I’m working. God is working. And He works through means. Those means of grace that He has given to us to help us in our sanctification: prayer, Bible study, worship, fellowship, witnessing, and service. Those are the ordinary means of grace. You know, we’re lazy, and we want sanctification in three easy steps. But, no. The whole process of sanctification is a lifelong enterprise of diligence and of commitment, making use of those means that the Lord has given to us. So, it’s the lazy man’s Christianity who says I’m going to sit back and let God do it for me.9”
― Jared C. Wilson, The Gospel According to Satan: Eight Lies about God that Sound Like the Truth

“The antinomian argument is that grace is then championed. But in reality grace is cheapened, since it is not imagined that grace might both empower our sincere obedience and secure our faithful souls from equating our obedience with the salvation we are “working out.” But as Dallas Willard has reminded us, “Grace is not opposed to effort, but is opposed to earning.”8”
― Jared C. Wilson, The Gospel According to Satan: Eight Lies about God that Sound Like the Truth

“An early proponent of Keswick theology once wrote, “Christians need not sin, and if they allow the Holy Spirit to ‘operate invariably’ they will not sin.”6 There are numerous problems in this one sentence, not least of which is that it represents, again, a fundamental misunderstanding about how sanctification works in a Christian’s life. Another issue is the idea that Christians can reach a point of sinlessness (or near-sinlessness). But a big problem hiding behind the others is one that is repeated in countless Christian sermons, books, social media thoughts, and even songs. It is the notion of “letting God.”
― Jared C. Wilson, The Gospel According to Satan: Eight Lies about God that Sound Like the Truth

“Keswick (pronounced KEZ-ick, silent w) is a place, not a person (though if it were, his first name would definitely be Alfred). A market town of Cumbria in England, Keswick became home to numerous meetings begun by an Anglican and a Quaker, influenced by various Wesleyan, Pentecostal, and revivalist-type strands in the church. Keswick theology promoted the potential for breakthrough in the Christian life: an instant experience of sanctification that would take serious believers to the next level in their discipleship. Early Keswick conventions were organized around the process to this breakthrough, during which believers were said to confront a spiritual crisis, activate an experience of consecration, and then receive the Spirit’s filling.”
― Jared C. Wilson, The Gospel According to Satan: Eight Lies about God that Sound Like the Truth

“After Adam and Eve fall, they are immediately conscious of their shame and vulnerability. “We’ll fix it,” they say to themselves. So they make coverings for themselves out of fig leaves. When the Lord calls them to account, he lets them know that the death they’ve brought into the world cannot so easily be concealed. And yet he does not wish to leave them naked and afraid. Instead he covers them with the skins of animals. This is perhaps the first instance of sacrificial covering, long before the official institution of the sacrifices in the Levitical system. “You cannot cover you,” the Lord says. “But I can. And I will.”
― Jared C. Wilson, The Gospel According to Satan: Eight Lies about God that Sound Like the Truth

“He must feel really uncomfortable with the Sermon on the Mount. Because only namby-pamby pushovers walk second miles and give shirts to those who ask for coats. The alpha male could not make heads or tails of “blessed are the meek.” The devil, we should add, hates meekness. He himself is not meek, and he does not nurture meekness among his unwitting quarry. Passivity, yes. Meekness, no.”
― Jared C. Wilson, The Gospel According to Satan: Eight Lies about God that Sound Like the Truth

“He must feel really uncomfortable with the Sermon on the Mount. Because only namby-pamby pushovers walk second miles and give shirts to those who ask for coats. The alpha male could not make heads or tails of “blessed are the meek.”
― Jared C. Wilson, The Gospel According to Satan: Eight Lies about God that Sound Like the Truth

“The holding up of Kylie Jenner as a model for “what you should do with your life” represents nearly everything dysfunctional about America’s moral and spiritual life.”
― Jared C. Wilson, The Gospel According to Satan: Eight Lies about God that Sound Like the Truth

“While it may not be possible to make clean demarcations between the moral law and the so-called ceremonial (or ritual) law—all God’s laws are moral laws, really—there appears to be a difference between regulations given to a particular people for a particular time and regulations given for all people in all times.”
― Jared C. Wilson, The Gospel According to Satan: Eight Lies about God that Sound Like the Truth

“Since God is holy and utterly good by nature, even His harshest commands are worth your obedience. Or to say it another way, if God is as good as He says He is, then every single command is good FOR you even if it doesn’t feel good to you.7”
― Jared C. Wilson, The Gospel According to Satan: Eight Lies about God that Sound Like the Truth

“Some dogma, we are told, was credible in the twelfth century, but is not credible in the twentieth. You might as well say that a certain philosophy can be believed on Mondays, but cannot be believed on Tuesdays. You might as well say of a view of the cosmos that it was suitable to half-past three, but not suitable to half-past four. What a man can believe depends upon his philosophy, not upon the clock or the century.6”
― Jared C. Wilson, The Gospel According to Satan: Eight Lies about God that Sound Like the Truth