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Find the answers to all those questions you were too embarrassed to ask in Sunday School. Welcome to Weird Stuff in the Bible, where we explore scripture passages that are bizarre, perplexing or just plain weird. Hosted by Luke Taylor.
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The Gospel According to Satan
Genesis 11
Introduction
Matthew 4 tells the story of the temptations of Jesus. The devil tries to get Jesus to submit to him three times; and all three times, of course, Jesus resists.
And it kind of feels like the things Jesus is tempted with are not the same kinds of things we’re tempted with. First he tries to get Jesus to turn stones into bread.
Now, I don’t want to brag, but I’ve never once been tempted to turn stones into bread. Never even really considered it, to be quite honest. It’s just not one of my weaknesses.
The second thing he hits Jesus with is trying to make him jump off the temple to see if angels would catch Him. Again, not a desire I’ve ever been hit with myself.
And finally, in verses 8-9, it says
Again, the devil took him to a very high mountain and showed him all the kingdoms of the world and their glory. And he said to him, “All these I will give you, if you will fall down and worship me.”
I guess I can see why that would be tempting to some people, but can the devil even really deliver on that offer?
Actually, I would say YES. This goes back to Babel, and I want to tell you about that today.
Other than that, though, don’t Satan’s temptations of Christ seem quite WEIRD? They’re different from what might cause you or me to stumble.
I also want to show you today: they’re actually more relatable than you think. The playbook Satan used against Christ is the same playbook he uses against everybody. It’s called the Lust of the Flesh, the Lust of the Eyes, and the Pride of Life.
Turn to II Corinthians 11, and let’s get weird.
[theme music]
Another Gospel
Welcome to Weird Stuff in the Bible, where we explore scripture passages that are bizarre, perplexing or just plain weird. This is Luke Taylor, and today we’re going to be talking about what I call “The Gospel According to Satan.” We are still in our Tower of Babel series, but this week, what I’m wanting to do is step back a little bit from Babel and look at its place in the storyline of the Bible.
Now, that title I used might be a little to edgy for some of you, so let me explain this first. Most Christians have an attachment to this word “Gospel”; it might even sound blasphemous to say that someone else, especially the devil, can have a gospel.
But this word “gospel” is not specific to Christianity. In the original Greek, it was Euaggelion (yoo-ong-ghel’-ee-on). It means simply “good news.” The Gospel of Jesus Christ is the good news of salvation by grace through faith in Jesus as the only begotten Son of God, that He died for our sins and rose again three days later.
But the Scriptures also warn us to watch out for another Gospel.
In II Corinthians 11:3-4, Paul writes:
3 But I am afraid that as the serpent deceived Eve by his cunning, your thoughts will be led astray from a sincere and pure devotion to Christ. 4 For if someone comes and proclaims another Jesus than the one we proclaimed, or if you receive a different spirit from the one you received, or if you accept a different gospel from the one you accepted-
Let me just stop there. A different gospel. A false gospel. Different methods of getting to heaven. Manmade religions that try to say you can earn your path to heaven or try to manipulate God. These are actually just Satan’s ways of trying to manipulate you. He promises to fulfill your desires. But it’s a trap. His good news is bad news.
I John 2:15-17 (NKJV) says
15 Do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. 16 For all that is in the world—the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life—is not of the Father but is of the world. 17 And the world is passing away, and the lust of it; but he who does the will of God abides forever.
The book of I John is what I like to call “The Salvation Test.” It’s only 5 chapters, and throughout this book, John gives question after question that you can ask yourself to see whether you are truly a Christian. Some people believe they are saved and are not. They might believe they can get themselves to heaven by being a good person. They might believe in a false version of Jesus. They might believe the right facts about Jesus but haven’t made Him their Lord. There are all kinds of ways someone could wrongly believe they are saved, and I John goes over them with you.
I John 2:15-17 tells us that if you love the world, you are of the world. The word “world” here is Kosmos in the Greek. It can mean the planet itself, or it can mean the people of the world, or it can mean the system of the world. You have to kind of use some discernment when interpreting verses with the word Kosmos.
When John 3:16 says “for God so loved the world,” it’s talking about the people of the world. It’s good to love people—we shouldn’t love them more than God, but we should love them—but that’s not what I John 2:15-17 is talking about. It’s talking about the affairs of this world. As John 17 says, we are in the world but not of the world.
And speaking of the world, do not forget that Satan himself is said to be the “ruler of this world” (or ruler of the kosmos) three times in the book of John (12:31, 14:30, 16:11). Remember from a few months ago: Satan is an earthly realm spirit, not an underworld spirit. I put an article about that on the website this week: WeirdStuffInTheBible.com.
The New Testament Greek Lexicon - KJV entry on Kosmos describes it as
world affairs, the aggregate of things earthly
the whole circle of earthly goods, endowments, riches, advantages, pleasures, etc, which although hollow and frail and fleeting, stir desire, seduce from God and are obstacles to the cause of Christ
Source: https://www.biblestudytools.com/lexicons/greek/kjv/kosmos.html
Verse 15 defined it this way for us: “the things in the world.” And then verse 16 gave us three categories of these “things” that can pull us away from God and into the world: the lust of the flesh; the lust of the eyes; and the pride of life.
The word “lust” there is the Greek word Epithumia (ep-ee-thoo-mee’-ah), it means desires, cravings, longings. Desires that are forbidden.
Some translations use the word desire; I like how the NKJV and others use the word “lust.” I think that’s more pointed than simply saying desire. There are two types of lust that Satan uses. The first lust is the lust of the flesh; what we want that makes us feel good. The second lust is of the eyes; the things we look at and see and want. May times we see something we want, and so to fulfill that lust of the eyes, we try and take it. And the third weakness we have is our pride; our desire to be great; our desire to have more than someone else.
And so these things can work separately or together. It often starts with seeing something. We crave it, whether we can actually have it or not. The lust of the eyes.
The devil shows us something we want. The devil tells you that you can’t be happy until you get this thing. He dangles that carrot. Only it doesn’t look like a carrot because nobody likes carrots. He dangles something you actually want.
Maybe it’s something you actually get access to. You devour it. The lust of the flesh. He tells you that if you get this, you’ll finally be satisfied. Only it doesn’t satisfy. The hunger returns. The urge comes back stronger. You just want it again. You want it more now. You can never be satiated.
Maybe you want it out of selfish desire. Maybe you want it because somebody else has it and you just want to keep up with them. Maybe you want it because no one else has it and you want to be better. The boastful pride of life.
CS Lewis said, “Pride gets no pleasure out of having something, only out of having more of it than the next man…” (Mere Christianity- Book 3, Chapter 8, The Great Sin).
It’s the gospel according to Satan. And it’s a false gospel. It will never truly make you happy.
It’s kind of like those subscription services where they offer you a free trial, but they ask you to put in your credit card information to activate the free trial. Satan’s offers are like that. They look like you’re getting a free ride. But it’s gonna cost you something later.
As it’s been said, “Sin will take you farther than you want to go, keep you longer than you want to stay, and cost you more than you want to spend.”
But with all the ads on Youtube lately, I’m really thinking about paying for Premium. That’s my struggle right now. You can’t get 60 seconds into a video right now without seeing an unskippable ad. How can Youtube do that to us in this economy? But thankfully, I’m poor, so it’s kind of a moot point.
The Fall of Man
So let me show you how the devil used his schemes against all humanity to really jack up the world, and then we’ll circle back around to how he used it against Jesus in the wilderness.
We’ll start with where everything went wrong:
Genesis 3(:1)
Now the serpent was more crafty than any other beast of the field that the Lord God had made.
He said to the woman, “Did God actually say, ‘You shall not eat of any tree in the garden’?”
I remember seeing where someone on social media, who was trying to justify their use of marijuana, saying, “How can a plant be illegal? That’s like saying God made a mistake.” And someone commented on that post and wisely said, “Making a plant illegal was the first thing God ever did.” And that’s true; in the perfect world of Eden, there was one rule: do not eat from this one particular tree.
2 And the woman said to the serpent, “We may eat of the fruit of the trees in the garden, 3 but God said, ‘You shall not eat of the fruit of the tree that is in the midst of the garden, neither shall you touch it, lest you die.’” 4 But the serpent said to the woman, “You will not surely die. 5 For God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.”
So here’s what Satan presents to Eve. He makes her question God. You might say that the first sin was dissatisfaction. Adam and Eve had everything they could possible need. They had no wrongful desires or cravings; the good desires they had were perfectly satisfied; they were content.
But now, suddenly, the devil has questioned God’s intentions. The devil has got them wondering whether God is taking good enough care of them. For the first time, they were wondering if God has been withholding from them. They are now doubting God; doubting whether He really has their best intentions in mind.
Verse 6 is key
So when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was a delight to the eyes, and that the tree was to be desired to make one wise, she took of its fruit and ate, and she also gave some to her husband who was with her, and he ate.
Notice the progression; the woman saw that the tree was good for food. Food. Things that make our bodies feel good. Things of the world. The lust of the flesh.
Second: “and that it was a delight to the eyes.” The lust of the eyes.
And then third: “that the tree was to be desired to make one wise.” To make one wise: the pride of life. So much of what we do is to keep up with others, or just to exalt ourselves.
Eve bought the lie, thinking if she just had this, she’d feel better about herself than ever. And Adam as well.
Verse 7
Then the eyes of both were opened, and they knew that they were naked. And they sewed fig leaves together and made themselves loincloths.
They didn’t feel so good about themselves, did they? It was a false gospel of Satan. We have all three of those things in Genesis 3 and the fall of man.
The Fall of the World
But let’s expand the scope a little bit. We also see these three temptations of the devil mapped over the origin story of the world. Genesis 1 through 11 are often called the Foundations of our Faith; the introduction to our world today. Pre-history.
And I like how Michael Heiser teaches through these chapters: that they really contain three significant rebellions. The Rebellion in the Garden of Eden in Genesis 3; the Rebellion of the Watchers in Genesis 6; and the Tower of Babel account in Genesis 11.
Genesis 3 was about a fruit. This one correlates with the lust of the flesh. We saw how the story correlates to all three, but the sin itself was about a fruit; a food.
Genesis 6—the sin of the Watchers or Sons of God—was about the lust of the eyes.
Genesis 6:1-2
When man began to multiply on the face of the land and daughters were born to them, 2 the sons of God SAW [lust of the eyes] that the daughters of man were attractive. And they took as their wives any they chose.
You can also take all three of Satan’s schemes and apply them to this story, too. There was a sexual sin referred to here- lust of the flesh, though it doesn’t go into detail about it. This union created the giants, and it says in
Verse 4
These were the mighty men who were of old, the men of renown.
Men of renown. Literally: men of the name. Men who made a legendary status for themselves. AKA, the pride of life.
So we have all three elements again, but the emphasis of this second rebellion is on sight. I like how the Book of Enoch describes this in the Modern Standard Version:
It came to pass when the children of men had multiplied, that in those days were born unto them beautiful and attractive daughters. The angels, the children of the heavens, saw and lusted after them…”
I appreciate how it emphasizes the visual element of this story. It’s the lust of the eyes.
And by the way, the devil was not one of these Watchers who mated with the women, but I do believe he was manipulating things behind the scenes here. I think he was pulling the strings here but keeping his own hands clean; he didn’t participate in this sin himself, so he wasn’t locked away in the Abyss with the other Watchers. The Book of Enoch also contains this tidbit in chapter 54:
They will cast them on that day into the burning furnace, so that the Lord of hosts can take vengeance on them for their unrighteousness in becoming servants of Satan and leading astray those who live on the earth.
So Satan was credited with enticing the Watchers to do this. And their lustful eyes led them into sin.
And then finally, that brings us to the Tower of Babel story. We all know what happened; they wanted to build a tower to the heavens. We’ve been discussing on this show what exactly that meant; the spiritual mechanics at play. We’ve even looked into some extrabiblical documentation that implies that Nimrod wanted to overthrow God and rule heaven and earth.
But why? What was their motivation?
Genesis 11:4
Then they said, “Come, let us build ourselves a city and a tower with its top in the heavens, and let us make a name for ourselves, lest we be dispersed over the face of the whole earth.”
Make a name for ourselves. The pride of life. So there we have that one as well.
Now, I think that there may be a hint or link about making a name for themselves and trying to be men “of the name” in the Nephilim sense, but I dealt with that two episodes ago; I won’t go into it today. There was surely more going on in this story than just a tall structure. But the motivation that the Bible gives us for it centers around pride: trying to make a name for yourself.
The Three Rebellions
Genesis 1-11 has really been our core text here on this podcast for 2026. And Genesis 1-11 gives us the origin story for why the world is the way it is. It’s the basis of most of our theology, our psychology, our anthropology, and our history.
And it’s characterized by three rebellions against God. The lust of the flesh in Genesis 3. The lust of the eyes in Genesis 6. And the pride of life in Genesis 11. Three times we were tested. Three times we failed.
And it wasn’t just three rebellions; it was three mountains. Genesis 3 was the Rebellion on Mount Eden. Genesis 6 was the Rebellion on Mount Hermon. And then Genesis 11 is the Rebellion on quote-unquote “Mount Babel”; the false mountain.
And what I also find interesting is that the Watchers are involved in all three. At the Garden, it was where God said, “Behold, the man has become like one of US in knowing good and evil. Now, lest he reach out his hand and take also of the tree of life and eat, and live forever…” At the second rebellion, Mount Hermon, it’s the most obvious, “the sons of God saw that the daughters of man were attractive.” And then at the third rebellion at Babel, we know from Deuteronomy 4:19 and 32:8 that it was at this event that the nations scattered at Babel were allotted to the Sons of God.
There’s also a verbal repetition in the first two temptations that isn’t in the third. Genesis 3 says that Eve “saw and took” the fruit. She saw the fruit and she took the fruit. Genesis 6- the Watchers “saw and took.” They saw the women and took the women. We see this same phrasing showing up in both of the rebellions.
But in the Babel story, there is no “saw and took.” It’s just “make a name for ourselves.” Why is that? Because it’s matching I John 2:16. The first two are about lusts- lust of the flesh and lust of the eyes. Lust starts with seeing something. The third rebellion doesn’t start with seeing something but with raising yourself up. Quite literally in this case.
Babel is a false gospel. A false path to heaven. Remember what I said at the start of the episode: the New Testament warns us repeatedly about false gospels.
Galatians 1:8
But even if we or an angel from heaven should preach to you a gospel contrary to the one we preached to you, let him be accursed.
And the book of Galatians is all about trying to add works to the work of Jesus to earn your way to heaven. All false religions do this; they try to say you can get to heaven by some of your own ability.
What were they attempting to do at Babel? Work their way into heaven. To get to heaven on their own terms, by their own strength. And that’s the same thing Galatians is warning us about: don’t try to say you can get to heaven in your own strength.
It’s not 99% Jesus and 1% you. It’s 100% Jesus. Anything else is a false gospel. Just like Babel was a false mountain. A false path to heaven. Anything other than the true Gospel is pride.
That’s why I’m talking about this today as part of our Babel series. I want you to understand Babel’s place in the story that Scripture is telling. It’s showing us how Satan derails us again and again from God’s better way.
And we see that the division of mankind, as well as the Watchers, was not God’s plan A. It was the consequence because mankind rejected God’s original design. And they did that because Satan used the pride of life to entice them. Now Satan is the ruler of this world.
The Fast Temptation of Christ
But where we failed the test, Jesus passed it, all three times. We see Satan’s playbook coming up in the temptations of Christ in Luke 4 and Matthew 4. Now, these are talking about the same event, but they put the items in slightly different order.
It starts like this in Luke 4 (:1-3)
And Jesus, full of the Holy Spirit, returned from the Jordan and was led by the Spirit in the wilderness 2 for forty days, being tempted by the devil. And he ate nothing during those days. And when they were ended, he was hungry. 3 The devil said to him, “If you are the Son of God, command this stone to become bread.”
Jesus went out into a desert and fasted for 40 days. And when Jesus was at His weakest, that’s when Satan showed up. As you all know, Satan offers three temptations against Jesus.
It starts with turning stones into bread. Now, this is kinda understandable. He’s trying to get Jesus to break His fast—which shows the power of fasting. And frankly, if I hadn’t eaten anything for 40 days—or even 4 days—and if I had stones-into-bread power, that one probably would have gotten me.
I wouldn’t have even realized that one was a sin. But probably anything the devil suggests, it’s a good idea to do the opposite. Jesus resisted and quotes Scripture.
(Verse 4)
And Jesus answered him, “It is written, ‘Man shall not live by bread alone.’”
Bread. Satan came after Jesus with the lust of the flesh. It didn’t work.
Luke’s account continues (Verses 5-7)
5 And the devil took him up and showed him all the kingdoms of the world in a moment of time, 6 and said to him, “To you I will give all this authority and their glory, for it has been delivered to me, and I give it to whom I will. 7 If you, then, will worship me, it will all be yours.”
Now notice here that it says Satan “showed him.” Showed. The lust of the eyes.
Now here’s what I find interesting, from a Weird-Stuff/Spiritual realm perspective: Satan wasn’t bluffing about being able to deliver the nations of the world. If he was, it wouldn’t have been a temptation. All these nations are allotted to the Watchers; the devil must have control or rule over the fallen Watchers. So I don’t know if he had control over them from Babel onward, or if he acquired it over time, but Satan somehow got jurisdiction or authority over all those Watchers.
Now, we know that Jesus is going to reclaim authority of the world with His death and resurrection. But this temptation may have been the hardest to resist, because Jesus is being offered the world without having to go through the cross. And Satan’s temptations are always a shortcut; a way to give us what we want without having to endure more pain. That’s his false gospel. Jesus saw through it. Again, He quotes Scripture.
(Verse 8)
8 And Jesus answered him, “It is written,
“‘You shall worship the Lord your God,
and him only shall you serve.’”
Every time Jesus was tempted, He quoted Scripture to overcome it. If you have a particular sin you really struggle with, I would recommend finding a Scripture that speaks to that issue and quoting it to yourself when you’re feeling weak.
Luke’s story continues (verses 9-12)
9 And he took him to Jerusalem and set him on the pinnacle of the temple and said to him, “If you are the Son of God, throw yourself down from here, 10 for it is written,
“‘He will command his angels concerning you,
to guard you,’
11 and
“‘On their hands they will bear you up,
lest you strike your foot against a stone.’”
12 And Jesus answered him, “It is said, ‘You shall not put the Lord your God to the test.’”
He told Jesus just to jump off a the ledge of the Temple and to let angels catch Him. The idea is that Jesus can kind of show off his power. That God will just send angels to help Him out. Satan comes at Jesus with the pride of life. We see the third strategy of the devil at work.
Everywhere that mankind failed—in Genesis 3, in Genesis 6, in Genesis 11—Jesus came back and passed the test. He overcame temptation. He defeated the ruler of this world.
Closing Thoughts
My kid has been working his way through the Disney classics, and he watched Aladdin this past weekend. A big plot point, of course, is the magic lamp and the genie who pops out. And it’s kind of interesting how in what I guess you might call “genie mythology,” the genie always grants 3 wishes. Three ways to just get whatever you want, whatever you desire.
Satan does that as well. He gives you three wishes: the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life.
I went through Luke’s account up above because it maps so well onto these—but I think Matthew’s account is perhaps more chronological. I’ll explain why; my guess is that they went in order of the devil’s desperation.
In both accounts, they start with tempting Jesus to turn stones into bread. In Matthew’s version, the second thing the devil tries is double-dog-daring Jesus to jump off a high ledge. If I hadn’t eaten anything for 40 days, I might have been ready to jump off a cliff, too! But to be honest, I don’t believe Jesus was suicidal, and He turns it down.
And then finally, the last temptation was that he asked Jesus to bow down and worship him, and if he did so, then he would offer Jesus all the kingdoms of the world.
Think about it: he actually asked the Son of God to worship the devil. That was even more extreme than the other two! I don’t think Jesus was inclined for even a second to drop down and worship Satan—I think He would have rather thrown Himself off the cliff before He did that!
Satan’s temptations got more and more unhinged as he went on; the third time, Satan let it slip what he truly wants: he asked for worship. I think Satan was getting desperate. It’s the only time he tries to strike a deal. He offers all he has: the whole world. And as I said before, that prize could potentially look enticing to Jesus; but the price was unthinkable.
Satan knows his time is short. So he gets desperate. And when he gets desperate, he gets careless.
So for you: don’t be stupid. Be smart. Keep a level head. Know Scripture.
Satan’s attacks on Jesus aren’t so weird; they’re the same tactics he uses against us today: the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life. The Gospel according to Satan. A false gospel.
Satan makes you pay a big price after your free trial. But Jesus cancels the record of debt that stood against us (Colossians 2:14).
Satan offers to help you make a name for yourself. Jesus offers a new name written down in glory. (Revelation 2:17).
Satan offers you momentary pleasures of a temporary world. Jesus offers you eternity.
“…the world is passing away, and the lust of it; but he who does the will of God abides forever.”
Thanks for listening, God bless you for sticking around until the end, and we’ll see you next time on Weird Stuff in the Bible.