Satan Leads the Whole World Astray…
(from what?)

Satan is intent on deceiving the whole world however he can, by whatever means he can. Since the fall of man in the Garden until the present day, he has attempted to lead the whole world astray:

"Then the Lord God said to the woman, "What is this you have done?" And the woman said, "The serpent deceived me and I ate." (Genesis 3:13)

"The great dragon was hurled down — that ancient serpent called the devil or Satan, who leads the whole world astray. He was hurled to the earth, and his angels with him." (Revelation 12:9)

He leads the world astray through an educational system that denies that God created the universe and approves of sexual relationships outside of marriage. Satan leads mankind astray through Hollywood and their celebration of moral filth and violence. He leads men and women astray through a pretended faith in the Son of God that doesn't bring about obedience to His word (Romans 1:5). Satan has his own Ways and Means Committee to deceive an unsuspecting mankind, but each person has the freedom to listen to him or to the voice of conscience, which tells what is right.

The evil one wants to lead men astray from the path of life. He wants to bring all men to his own eternal destiny — the Lake of Fire. God in His goodness never intended for men to go to the second death. That was prepared for the devil and his angels, not for mankind (Matthew 25:41). When Adam and Eve fell in the Garden, God didn't hate them and pronounce them depraved. They were still bearers of His image, even after the Flood. Surely it was not God's intention to fill the whole earth with depraved human beings.

Christian doctrine says this: when good works are done by people who have never had the slightest chance to believe in Christ it means nothing to God and the only thing awaiting them at the judgment is condemnation. If this is so, then Satan would not still be trying to lead mankind astray. What would he be leading them astray from, their destiny in hell? How could he lead them astray from being totally depraved?

But the Bible says that Satan is still trying to lead the whole world astray! This means that he has not yet succeeded in making all mankind worthy of the second death in the Lake of Fire. He knows that men still have a conscience they can obey.

Men have a course of conscience they have to be led astray from to become worthy of the second death. If they stay on course, then at the resurrection they will be judged worthy of eternal life on the basis of their good deeds (John 5:28,29). For if all men are already worthy of eternal torment simply because they are Adam's children, then Satan's goal is accomplished — he has nothing more to do. For he cannot deceive the elect and he already has everyone else in his pocket. But the Bible says he is still intent on deceiving the nations.