Thesaurical Extractions of Satan's Temptations

What's "thesaurical extraction"? Because the Bible is infinite you can extract an infinite amount of meanings from virtually everything. The focus here is extracting some of the meanings behind each of Satan's temptations and then also a little detour to analyze some of the other extra bits of information:

1. The reordering of the the last two temptations (Luke swaps #2 and #3 deliberately)
2. The deliberate parts that get omitted between Matthew and Luke (inferior manuscripts seem to have "re-added" the removed bits found in Matthew; I suspect scribes at some point wrongly assumed that Matthew's omitted pieces should be re-added to Luke rather than cluing in that the removed parts were done deliberately by God)
3. Word order changing: this is not something exlusive to the temptations though, the Bible likes to play on word order sequences (which is hard to portray in English as English doesn't tolerate invalid grammar or ordering)
4. The fact that Satan appears to combine most attributes of the other temptations into "ruling the world" as the final punch (if you rule the world you'll never go hungry and you'll have as much public display as you want)
5. References to other verses (the temptations obviously link up to what other people have said and even Satan’s own words elsewhere)

We're using Matthew as the 'base' because it was the first book written according to the Bible's internal dateline meter, and it makes sense if "ruling the world" is the last temptation because it's the strongest one. There are differences in each Gospel and this is to capitalize on adding more information to create a sort of 3D view; it's commonly mistaken that the differences are erroneous misrepresentations of each writer's account. This is no different with how anaphora adds information to what was said. You'll also notice Luke swaps out the final temptation and places it second.

I've also corrected some errors in the translations, Satan never said "IF you are the Son of God", it's obvious Satan already knew. The Greek should have only been translated as "SINCE you are the Son of God". I guess the error is so prolific that it's now a part of religious canon and people would rather have the wrong translation than the right one.

green = corrections

red = conjugation change (i.e. plural)

hot pink = word order change (i.e. the black cat walks / walking there's a cat, black)

teal = deliberately removed or changed text between Matthew and Luke: these differences are to create a "3D" view of the event that wouldn't be possible with just writing it a single way

yellow = item of importance or correlation

Temptation #1: Perform Magic & Satiate Yourself (& Others)

Related Verses

Luke 23:8-11 And when Herod saw Jesus, he was exceedingly overjoyed: for he was desirous to see Him of a long season, because he had heard many things of Him; and he hoped to have seen some miracle done by Him. Then in many words he questioned with Him; but He answered him nothing. And the chief priests and scribes stood and vehemently accused Him. And Herod with his men of war set Him at nought, and mocked Him, and arrayed Him in a gorgeous robe, and sent Him again to Pilate.

Luke 23:8 ὁ δὲ Ἡρώδης ἰδὼν τὸν Ἰησοῦν ἐχάρη λίαν· ἦν γὰρ ἐξ ἱκανῶν χρόνων θέλων ἰδεῖν αὐτὸν διὰ τὸ ἀκούειν περὶ αὐτοῦ, καὶ ἤλπιζέν τι σημεῖον ἰδεῖν ὑπ᾽ αὐτοῦ γινόμενον. ἐπηρώτα δὲ αὐτὸν ἐν λόγοις ἱκανοῖς· αὐτὸς δὲ οὐδὲν ἀπεκρίνατο αὐτῷ. εἱστήκεισαν δὲ οἱ ἀρχιερεῖς καὶ οἱ γραμματεῖς εὐτόνως κατηγοροῦντες αὐτοῦ. ἐξουθενήσας δὲ αὐτὸν καὶ ὁ Ἡρώδης σὺν τοῖς στρατεύμασιν αὐτοῦ καὶ ἐμπαίξας περιβαλὼν ἐσθῆτα λαμπρὰν ἀνέπεμψεν αὐτὸν τῷ Πειλάτῳ.

Herod wanted to see Christ do a magic trick for the sake of entertainment (people would rather see magic than study). And in a similar vein, Satan argues that if God can do anything, He should always do magic at the expense of truth or what's ultimately right even if it looks 'wrong' in the short term.

2 Corinthians 11:14-15 And no wonder for Satan himself is masquerading as an angel of light. Therefore it's not surprising if his agents are also masquerading as the agents of righteousness; whose end shall be according to their works.

2 Corinthians 11:14-15 καὶ οὐ θαῦμα · αὐτὸς γὰρ ὁ σατανᾶς μετασχηματίζεται εἰς ἄγγελον φωτός. οὐ μέγα οὖν εἰ καὶ οἱ διάκονοι αὐτοῦ μετασχηματίζονται ὡς διάκονοι δικαιοσύνης · ὧν τὸ τέλος ἔσται κατὰ τὰ ἔργα αὐτῶν

Satan & his cohorts place a very big emphasis on good works. Satan believes that everyone should do good works to replace God's System, and that our own good works should have merit; so if someone makes themselves have a "lifestyle change" it should account to something when it doesn't as far as God is concerned. When either we or the demons do our own good works, often our 'good' ends up having the reverse intended effect and a more positive outcome would have been had if instead we did nothing at all. For instance: Satan assumed that by testing Job (which can be considered a good work) that it would end up in his favour by Job abandoning Bible Doctrine and God's System, which it did not (and of course he got pissed off at God due to the fact God is omniscient and already knew what would happen "you knew, you knew!!!", but God's response would be "then you shouldn't have done any good works, buddy!"). And this phenomenon applies to us as well, God always does the work never us.

Temptation #2 (&3): Public Performances

Related Verses

Matthew 23:5 But all of their works they do for to be gazed upon by men: they widen their phylacteries and magnify the tassels of their garments.

Matthew 23:5 πάντα δὲ τὰ ἔργα αὐτῶν ποιοῦσιν πρὸς τὸ θεαθῆναι τοῖς ἀνθρώποις· πλατύνουσιν γὰρ τὰ φυλακτήρια αὐτῶν καὶ μεγαλύνουσιν τὰ κράσπεδα,

One of Satan's fixations is publicity and display: should not good works be highly publicized? Since Satan's the most beautiful looking being ever created, should not his physical beauty be displayed for all to gawk at? This is why all of the religions Satan authors always place a big emphasis not only good works but also public good works and the Pharisees bought right into it along with emphasizing their special religious clothes. If you see any Christians who are very pushy and very public (screaming "repent or burn!" or "abortion is murder!"), they're playing right into Satan's second temptation and they've become addicted to it.

Be cautious of anyone who places emphasis on physical attraction as a dogma because it really doesn't mean anything; it can be adjunctive but it shouldn't be a fixation. Isn't it curious how Christianity always depicts Satan and demons as grotesque beasts and what we imagine "evil" to look like, when Satan is the most beautiful looking creature ever made? 🤔

Temptation #3 (&2): Rule the World

Related Verses

2 Timothy 3:7 always "learning", and never able to come into the knowledge of the truth.

2 Timothy 3:7 πάντοτε μανθάνοντα καὶ μηδέποτε εἰς ἐπίγνωσιν ἀληθείας ἐλθεῖν δυνάμενα.

Satan has a monopoly of sending people on "always learning but never actually learning anything" binges; whether this is people thinking they're learning the Bible or others reading the Qur'an or Bhagavad Gita: thinking themselves to be enlightened with the 'truth'. Often Christians, Muslims and Hindus end up having parallel beliefs as a consequence of this phenomenon: since they're just learning demon doctrines that send you down a maze of reversed Bible.

Isaiah 14:14 I (Satan) will ascend above the heights of the clouds; I will be like the most High.

Isaiah 14:14 אֶעֱלֶ֖ה עַל־בָּ֣מֳתֵי עָ֑ב אֶדַּמֶּ֖ה לְעֶלְיֽוֹן׃

The magnum opus of Satan's perspective: emphasis-of-self. His eyes are exclusively on himself and he ensures we too end up having our eyes on ourselves. This is why Christians especially tend to be fixated with themselves and have no problems throwing others under the bus if they don't adhere to whatever THEY believe as "truth". It's a "like father like son" situation, everyone who's a son of Satan will always be obsessed with themselves... and many Christians are sons of Satan unfortunately.

Matthew 24:35 the universe and earth will pass away, but my words will never pass away.

Matthew 24:35 ὁ οὐρανὸς καὶ ἡ γῆ παρελεύσεται, οἱ δὲ λόγοι μου οὐ μὴ παρέλθωσιν.

Everything on earth (including our own bodies) will eventually decay, death and atrophy are a concept quite vividly portrayed to all of us. Therefore Satan giving us a temporary experience is a one-sided deal: think about all of the people who spent their lives building special collections only to eventually die one day, or people who had a position of power and eventually lose it. The only thing you take with you when you die is the thinking in your soul.

Sidenote, the reason why I changed 'heaven' to 'universe' in this instance is because New Jerusalem isn't going to pass away (Revelation 21:2) like the earth will eventually (Revelation 21:2), so we can assume this is probably talking about the universe in conjunction with our current earth.

Common Themes

There's a few common themes with all of the temptations:

1. Satan always wants God to use the path of least resistance: why would an infinite God do things so contrary to what we would assume "god/gods" would?
2. Satan argues against God making anything 'low', why make humans low, why make it so suffering exists alongside pleasure?
3. Freedom of knowledge should be reduced for the sake of utopia: ignorance is bliss!
4. Satan believes our own works and doings should have merit (and this is indeed mirrored in the majority of religion and most of even Christianity -- or rather what I call Satan's 4D Christianity replacement)
5. There should be no adversity to learning, we should just have all of that knowledge automatically -- in other words Satan wants God to sculpt everything as if it were a "cheatmode".
6. Pitting a 'thing' against itself without any effort on Satan's part, the 'thing' does its own undoing. This is why Satan likes to use Christianity against itself: everyone in Christianity simply has to shoot themselves in the foot with bad doctrines and bludgeon others also making Christ look awful by proxy. Therefore no atheist would ever want to have a part of believing the Bible if all of its ambassadors are the worst and most dislikeable people imagineable.
7. It would appear Satan also disagrees with how everyone is unequal (everyone is different and nobody is equal to the other); so as a result we should all be equal but small. That's getting very close to 'automaton' territory and it's why God doesn't take that route. Satan really believes we should be closer to automatons and have bliss that way, rather than the freedom of everything as well as our ability to choose.

∞

There's a lot of people who agree and prefer Satan's perspective; this is why many either don't believe in God based on the circumstance they see before their eyes, just don't care enough to 'ask the ceiling' and see for themselves, or would rather take one of the many religions Satan offers. To the dismay of atheists: this is why religion will never 'go away' because Satan is fueling it and in fact it will only increase in popularity as time goes as Satan gets more deadlines.

When we picture God we wouldn't think of God having someone (Noah) to build an ark to rescue all of the animals, we would assume He'd just snap his fingers and make it happen magically. I'm certain this is why many struggle with God's humour and style (arks carrying animals, talking donkey, and much much more).

Satan's Temptations Towards Us

The question becomes why the temptations against Christ are important to us. Since we're learning to get Christ's thinking in ours (Christ being our prototype Who learned under God's System as per Matthew 4:4), Satan is going to use the exact same techniques and temptations against us both to ensure we never begin learning Bible Doctrine (Luke 8:12) or if it's gotten to that point to ensure we learn replacement doctrines (1 Timothy 4:1) instead keeping our thinking small & childish just like: Prolifers, KJV-onlyists, Lordship Salvationists, Unitarians, Antisemites, etc.

Christ didn't have to be our prototype at all: He's God after all and is already infinite, it doesn't do Him any good unless His will was for us to learn and become like Christ (in our thinking, without vegetables); but that's also part of Satan's argument that God shouldn't do anything the 'hard way' and use magic to always make everything a utopia even if capacity is stunted or even to a lesser extent, even if it's a lie. "Give us capacity that's not consented or learned, nobody who's 'small' would ever agree otherwise."

In lieu of the three temptations and all of the surrounding context, verses, and thesaurical extraction, we can create a list of the following that Satan is sure to use against us:

• Always emphasize yourself, your own works, your own deeds (the "me me me" factor)
• Hallucinate the contradiction that you're not earning salvation by works but still make works a requirement (like Spurgeon)
• Believe that your self-righteousness is a "quick fix" to feeling saved or feeling holy
• Always take the path of least resistance
• Always bee line towards bias if it means stoking your ego even if it's demonstratably false
• Never ever use God's System
• Never use 1 John 1:9
• Always deride the concept of "right pastor-teacher" (Just as Christ was taught by the Holy Spirit, we too are to have a male human pastor-teacher to be under: omniscience already calculated this in advanced, it's up to YOU whether or not you want it, as per Luke 4:4's removal of the text few ever choose God's System)
• Truth should be hidden or sacrificed for the sake of utopia or personally feeling good
• Shoot yourself in the foot (i.e. say you're a Christian who follows the Bible and yet reverses everything about it, rendering you a carnal Christian)
• Lie if it means achieving your goal (bonus points if you're addicted to lying like Prolifers but pretend to yourself you're not compulsively lying)
• Never think about the long-term, always think of the short-term, ignore consequences
• Practice being careless when it comes to auditing the Bible, your own desires (bread) come first over the Bible
• Be a hypocrite often, and break your own rules
• Use other people where convenient rather than following due process and what's right
• Become a public nuisance; hurl yourself at atheists and bludgeon them with what you think is 'from God'
• Force-feed others the Gospel when they don't want it (bonus points if it's the WRONG gospel like Spurgeon's)
• Violate the freedoms of others (like Prolifers and door-to-door Bible thumpers like Mormons and Jehovah's Witnesses)
• Always keep your thinking small and childish as long as it makes you happy inside for the moment (like KJV-onlyists)
• Focus on the world and everything else, as long as it's not God
• Make yourself a special individual apart from others: achieved by virtue of your own doing "I'm chosen! I'm special! I'm better than everyone else!"
• Hallucinate that you're learning the Bible when you're clearly and obviously not (bonus points if you misread the original language text like the Church Fathers and reverse everything about the Bible)
• Become addicted to judging others for their sins and mistakes, but never look at your own
• Become addicted to harming others either mentally or physically in God's name, when it has nothing to do with God
• Become addicted to yourself

∞

The ultimate temptation Christ was given by Satan was ruling the world (self-encompassing). It's important for us especially to take notice because Satan will will target us with all of these and especially the third.

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