A man tied his horse to a post. Later, the Devil came along and quietly set the horse free.
The horse wandered into a farmer’s field and began trampling the crops.
Furious, the farmer grabbed his rifle and shot the horse.
When the horse’s owner saw what happened, he became enraged. He took his own gun and killed the farmer out of revenge.
The farmer’s wife, seeing her husband dead, picked up an axe and killed the horse’s owner.
Then the owner’s son, driven by anger, killed the farmer’s wife.
The neighbors, horrified by the bloodshed, turned on the young man and burned his house to the ground.
When people asked the Devil why he had done all this, he replied calmly:
“I didn’t do anything. I only set the horse free.”
Moral:
The Devil doesn’t need to do much — just a small, innocent-looking act. The rest, we do ourselves.
He knows the evil already hiding in human hearts.
That’s why it’s so important to think before you act.
Remember: your words and your choices carry power.
Pause before you speak — and before you strike.
The Bible describes the devil ‘taking’ a ‘physical’ Jesus to a physical pinnacle of the Temple in Jerusalem as part of the temptations. The devil urged Jesus to throw Himself down, suggesting that God’s angels would catch Him, but Jesus refused. This event is a significant part of the biblical account of Jesus being tempted by the devil.
- The setting: The devil took Jesus to the “pinnacle of the temple” in the holy city of Jerusalem. Commentaries suggest this was likely a high point, possibly the southeastern corner of the temple’s porch, which was hundreds of feet high and overlooked the Kidron Valley.
- The temptation: The devil tempted Jesus to prove He was the Son of God by throwing Himself off the temple. To support this, the devil quoted Scripture (Psalm 91:11–12), claiming that angels would protect Him.
- Jesus’s response: Jesus countered the devil’s challenge by quoting Scripture again, this time from Deuteronomy, saying, “Do not put the Lord your God to the test”.
The Bible says, “Do not put the Lord your God to the test,” in Deuteronomy 6:16, and Jesus quotes this command in the New Testament in Matthew 4:7 and Luke 4:12. This passage refers to a time when the Israelites, thirsty in the desert, doubted God and demanded water, which is the first instance of putting God to the test. Jesus uses this same verse to refuse a temptation from the devil to prove he was the Son of God by throwing himself off the temple.
- Deuteronomy 6:16: “You shall not put the LORD your God to the test, as you tested him at Massah”.
- Matthew 4:7: “Jesus said to him, ‘Again it is written, `You shall not put the Lord your God to the test.`'”.
- Luke 4:12: “And Jesus answered him, ‘It is said, `You shall not put the Lord your God to the test.`'”.
- The meaning: This temptation was a test of Jesus’s faith and his willingness to rely on God in a way that would be a public spectacle rather than following his intended path of suffering and service.