The Wizard of Oz presented himself as a scary green face surrounded by smoke and fire. But operating behind the curtain was a kindly old man. Satan is the polar opposite. He operates as a kindly old man who is, in fact, a despicable, hideous beast hiding behind a sheen of morality and light.

Satan is a welcoming system promising to introduce you to "the real God and Christ" through a series of moral tests, devotions, and ceremonies. But in the end, you are left with threats of eternal doom should you fail to comply with the system's requirements. What begins as an invitation to happiness, ends with a sure and certain terror that compels unquestioned obedience.

This is because the systems of religion are traps—every one of them—that introduce its devotees, not into the presence of the true God and Christ, but into the thrall of demonic imitations. Rather than leading devotees upward into "the pearly gates," these Satanic systems provoke Christ's solemn utterance, "I never knew you, workers of lawlessness"  (Matthew 7:23).