At Play in the Devil's Quicksandbox

It is just like the devil to set out all those tasty mushrooms while nefariously mixing in some deadly varieties to afflict the possessor of an untrained or unwary eye--and perhaps his loved ones as well. Cruden's Bible Concordance has an informative discussion of "devil" (in maddeningly minuscule type in my copy), which includes this sentence: "The most subtle of these spirits [antecedent unclear] contrived a temptation , which might be most taking and dangerous to man in his excited and happy state: He attempts him with art, by propounding the lure of knowledge and pleasure, to inveigle the spiritual and sensitive appetites at once." "Attempts", which seems like a misprint for tempts, probably is used in a sense I found in The Student's Dictionary: "Attempt; to attack' to make an effort upon".

The excellent commentator on Hebrews in the "One-Volume Commentary on the Bible" has this to say about verses 3: 12-16: "The essence of sin is idolatry, the refusal to worship the true God. This is also the deceitfulness of sin. As long as we avoid the more dramatic sins and crimes we consider ourselves sound. But the subtlety of sin is that it puts something--sometimes something good--in the place of God. Man's 'original' sin is to put his own preferences before the will of God, and as a result all the structures of his life are distorted and misshapen."

This from Phaedrus (Book IV, Fable 10): "Jupiter [read mortal mind, the devil] has loaded us with a couple of wallets: the one, filled with our own vices, he has placed at our backs; the other, heavy with those of others, he has hung before." And some words of our Leader from "Science and Health" which accompany the margin heading of "Diabolism ['The actions of the devil.'] destroyed": "An apostle says that the Son of God [Christ] came to 'destroy the works of the devil.' We should follow our divine Exemplar, and seek the destruction of all evil works, error and disease included. We cannot escape the penalty due for sin. The Scriptures say, that if we deny Christ, 'he also will deny us.'" (p. 5: 29-2)

The insinuating attractions of the serpent's persistent, hornswoggling come-ons snare daily many whose porters of thought have, like the foolish virgins, grown logy and neglectful. Fear may work best when, to change metaphors, the bait has been unwittingly or gullibly taken and the hook formly set. Satan has his own version of big game sport fishing.