A store manager heard his clerk tell a customer, "No, ma'am, we haven't had any for a while, and it doesn't look as if we'll be getting any soon."
Horrified, the manager came running over to the customer and said, "Of course we'll have some soon. We placed an order last week." Then the manager drew the clerk aside. "Never," he snarled, "never say we're out of anything - say we've got it on order and it's coming. Now what was it she wanted?"
"Rain," the clerk replied.
As absurd as it is to order rain for a customer, it is equally absurd to believe Satan's lies compared to God's truth. Satan wants us to believe that there is no sin that can separate us from God. But in John 8:44, Jesus reminds us, "(Satan) is a liar and father of lies."
Satan used lies to trick Eve and to temp Jesus, and today he tests our wills with his lies.
But we can trust God. When Christ was being tempted, He fought back by quoting scripture. Today, we have the power to ignore Satan's ploys by focusing on God's Word and prayer.
Don't forget that Jesus is the only way, the truth and the life.
• Al Tilstra is pastor of Silver Springs and Yerington Seventh-day Adventist churches and is a member of the Carson City Christian Ministerial Fellowship.