Zechariah 3:1 Then the angel showed me Jeshua the high priest standing before the angel of the LORD. The Accuser, Satan, was there at the angel’s right hand, making accusations against Jeshua. 2 And the LORD said to Satan, “I, the LORD, reject your accusations, Satan. Yes, the LORD, who has chosen Jerusalem, rebukes you. This man is like a burning stick that has been snatched from the fire.”

      Those who wield a poison pen will rewrite what God declares to be true and make God’s statement say whatever the person wants to believe. Satan, the father of lies, is ready to give anyone a counterfeit reading to suit whatever sin a person wants to live with. From the beginning of human history, Satan has had his poison pen working to distort anything God says to be true. The devil wrote out the script that would cause Eve to stumble. Gen. 3:1 Now the serpent was more crafty than any beast of the field that the LORD God had made. And he said to the woman, “Did God really say, ‘You must not eat from any tree in the garden?’” The efficiency of the poison rewrite came as a question that would trick Eve into mistrusting the integrity of God’s love for her and the Lord’s honesty. “Did God really say?” was the slithering line Satan used to bring a distortion of false understanding to Eve’s heart. The sad thing is that the poison pen’s trickery worked.

      The modern definition and online explanation of a poison pen letter are explained in this manner. A poison pen letter (or poisoned pen letter) is a letter or note containing unpleasant, abusive, or malicious statements or accusations about the recipient or a third party. Satan has been sending these notes throughout our whole lives. From the day we were born, the acrimonious and abusive words the devil had and still has toward us are a litany of never-ending poisonous lies. Even when we have God speaking on our behalf, Satan cannot help but use his slanderous skills to start listing out everything that we do wrong. Job 1:8 Then the LORD said to Satan, “Have you considered my servant Job? There is no one on earth like him; he is blameless and upright, a man who fears God and shuns evil.” 9 “Does Job fear God for nothing?” Satan replied. What can anyone do or say when the lies are so manipulative that we stumble because of the sheer outrageousness of the accusations against us? How do you reason with a troll? It cannot be done online, and cannot be done with the enemy of our soul. Therefore, we need to leave this battle of accusations in the Lord’s hands and keep using the Word of God to resist the devil on all counts. James 4:7 Submit yourselves, then, to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.

      Nehemiah was commissioned to rebuild the walls of Jerusalem, and the opposition (Sanballat and Tobiah) started a poison pen campaign. They started rumours, lies, and accusations of a conspiracy. The letter that Nehemiah received was dripping with poison. Neh. 6:6 In it was written: It is reported among the nations, and Geshem says, that you and the Jews plan to rebel; therefore, according to these rumours, you are rebuilding the wall, that you may be their king. 7 And you have also appointed prophets to proclaim concerning you at Jerusalem, saying, “There is a king in Judah!” Now these matters will be reported to the king. So come, therefore, and let us consult together. Just like Satan, Sanballat, and Tobiah used similar strategies. First, start the rumours, then claim there are rumours. This sure sounds like our modern-day politics. Nehemiah’s response was to the point. Neh. 6:8  Then I replied to him, “There is nothing to these rumours you are spreading; you are inventing them in your own mind.”

      The victory for Nehemiah was that he took his eyes off the letter of lies and placed them on the Lord’s plans that had been sown in his heart, and then he brought the issue to the Lord. The result was that God had Nehemiah’s back, and the work was finished. Neh. 6:15 So the wall was finished in the twenty and fifth day of the month Elul, in fifty-and-two days. What would have happened if Nehemiah had tried to reason with those who had written the poison pen letter that was designed to break down the work of the Lord?  Nehemiah kept his eyes and heart on the plan God had given him, and in this case, the power of God was greater than any slander that had been written in jealousy.

      During the temptations of Jesus in the wilderness, Satan again tried to rewrite some of God’s word to bring doubts as to the Lordship of Jesus. Matt. 4:5 Then the devil took Him up into the holy city, set Him on the pinnacle of the temple, 6 and said to Him, “If You are the Son of God, throw Yourself down. For it is written: ‘He shall give His angels charge over you,’ and, ‘In their hands, they shall bear you up, lest you dash your foot against a stone.’ ” There was just enough of the Psalm that Satan was quoting to sound religious, but the context was off within Satan’s rewrite. The devil had left out an important part of the scripture he was misquoting. Psalm 91:11 For He shall give His angels charge over you, to keep you in all your ways. To keep you in all your ways are important words in this verse. Recklessness, suicide, tempting fate, and proving yourself to the devil (which is a mug’s game) are not keeping us in the way of the Lord.

      Someone said, “Just because you can resist the devil, doesn’t mean you should hang out with him.” We need to realize that there is a poison pen campaign going on against every one of the Saints who has chosen Jesus Christ as Lord. If the devil tried his misinterpretation of scripture on Jesus, then be assured he will try it on anyone who has a relationship with God the Father through God the Son. Our responsibility is to make sure we know the written Word God has given us and to know it well. The Holy Spirit will inform our spirit when we are being lied to. John 16:13a When the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all the truth.

      Part of our mandate in Christ is to ensure that we are not involved in any campaign of spreading poison letters, notes, essays, or stories of ill will towards and about one another. If you have found that your pen has been leaking poison, throw it away, pick up the Lord’s quill of love and righteousness, and write out the plan God has set in your heart. His words are truth and life and lead to truth and life. If we are Epistles read of men, then may what is read within us be holy and acceptable to God.