A couple of years ago I took my son fishing for the first time. He was young and it was an interesting experience.
He asked a lot of questions because this was new to him, and he didn’t know.
I explained the basic idea of fishing to him.
You put bait on a hook.
You cast the hook where the fish are swimming.
When the fish sees it, they will swim to it to bite it.
When they bite down, they are caught, because the hook pierced the inside of its mouth.
You reel the fish in for your catch.
The concept of fishing can be applied to various contexts.
Jesus used this concept in Matthew 4:19 when He told His disciples, “Follow Me, I will make you fishers of men.”
This was an invitation to become messengers of the Gospel to a dark and dying world.
The process of fishing with Jesus was first, watch and listen to Me. Once you understand how to present the Gospel, you will go out among the people to share the Gospel. People will be attracted, and will come to you for this truth.
This evangelism strategy worked! The church grew as the Gospel was shared with love and grace.
It still works today.
I mentioned earlier that the concept of fishing can be applied in various contexts.
One context of fishing that is negatively gaining results, is the twisting of truth. Satan, as usual, has adopted Jesus’ strategy to further his agenda of deceiving people.
Satan is fishing!
The devil takes attractive bait like social issues, and twists it to the point where people see just the right amount of truth to bite. He started this approach back in the garden with Adam and Eve in Genesis 3:1, when he asked, “Did God really say?”
Like the process of fishing, what is seen, isn’t the problem. The problem is what is hidden (aka the hook).
Like fishing, once someone bites down, the hidden hook latches into their mind, and they are reeled in under someone else’s control.
This questioning of God is prevalent today. Core historical truths of Christianity are being distorted to fit people’s narrative of God, of Jesus, and culture.
We were warned by Paul in his letter to Timothy that this day was coming.
“For the time will come when people will not tolerate sound doctrine, but according to their own desires, will multiply teachers for themselves because they have an itch to hear what they want to hear. They will turn away from hearing the truth and will turn aside to myths.” 2 Timothy 4:3-4
People are turning away from the truth and turning to lies because they are attracted to the bait. So not understanding that there is a hook, they bite down, and are reeled in under Satan’s control.
To avoid being hooked by the wrong bait, go back to the Bible to learn about the authentic Jesus. Begin to understand His truth not culture’s truth, which is actually Satan’s bait.