April Fools

April Fool’s Day is well known in much of the world—the US and Canada, Europe, Australia and parts of South America. Its origins are unknown, but it’s been around since the 1500’s, becoming quite popular since the 19th century. I think it’s interesting that we enjoy and celebrate a day dedicated to deceiving one another, when every day is April Fool’s Day according to Satan. His job is to mislead and confuse the human population, and he’s very good at his job. So I guess you could say that the very first “April Fool’s” joke was played on Adam and Eve. [7:20] The devil whispered to them, in order to reveal their bodies, which were invisible to them. He said, “Your Lord did not forbid you from this tree, except to prevent you from becoming angels, and from attaining eternal existence.”  [7:21] He swore to them, “I am giving you good advice.” [7:22] He thus duped them with lies. As soon as they tasted the tree, their bodies became visible to them, and they tried to cover themselves with the leaves of Paradise. Their Lord called upon them: “Did I not enjoin you from that tree, and warn you that the devil is your most ardent enemy?”

Humans are easily fooled. We’re indecisive, skeptical of the truth, and ready to follow falsehood and deception.

[22:3-4] Among the people, there are those who argue about GOD without knowledge, and follow every rebellious devil. It is decreed that anyone who allies himself with him, he will mislead him and guide him to the agony of Hell.

So it’s really no wonder that a day is set aside for us to make fools of one another. Some pranks have made national news. The BBC reported in 1980 that the famous Big Ben clock in London would be converted to digital, and people were outraged. In 1962, Sweden’s only TV channel announced that viewers could make it color TV by cutting up their stockings and taping them over their television set, and thousands tried it. In 1976 BBC radio announced that earth’s gravity would decrease at 9:47am and everyone should jump in the air at that time and experience weightlessness, and many said they felt a floating sensation. How about growing your own spaghetti? A report on the spaghetti harvest in Switzerland caused many people to inquire about how they could grow spaghetti at home. They were told to stick a “sprig” of spaghetti in tomato sauce.

These are laughable, yet in each case hundreds, perhaps thousands, of people were taken in. How many millions are duped by Satan every day into committing idol worship, killing their children, oppressing women, and straying from God’s path. [4:119] “I will mislead them, I will entice them, I will command them to (forbid the eating of certain meats by) marking the ears of livestock, and I will command them to distort the creation of GOD.”

Anyone who accepts the devil as a lord, instead of GOD, has incurred a profound loss.  [4:120] He promises them and entices them; what the devil promises is no more than an illusion.

God warns us that Satan is our most ardent enemy (2:208) and that he will come at us from all directions all the time (7:16-7). It is the devil's wish to lead us far astray (4:60), to instill fear into us (3:175). He makes all kinds of promises but they are all illusions (14:22).

So this April 1st, if you pull a prank on someone, or someone puts one over on you, you can laugh about it, but remember that fooling us is a task taken very seriously by Satan. And being saved from that foolishness is what God is inviting us to.

[7:27] O children of Adam, do not let the devil dupe you as he did when he caused the eviction of your parents from Paradise, and the removal of their garments to expose their bodies. He and his tribe see you, while you do not see them. We appoint the devils as companions of those who do not believe.

[2:256] There shall be no compulsion in religion: the right way is now distinct from the wrong way. Anyone who denounces the devil and believes in GOD has grasped the strongest bond; one that never breaks. GOD is Hearer, Omniscient.

[35:6] The devil is your enemy, so treat him as an enemy. He only invites his party to be the dwellers of Hell.

Lydia