Through cults, deceptive practices, and false teachers in the world, Satan tries to keep the Word of God from influencing the hearts and lives of men and women: In whom the god of this world hath blinded the minds of them which believe not, lest the light of the glorious gospel of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine unto them. (2 Corinthians 4:4) Satan tempts believers to abandon the faith in order to embrace the world. Paul spoke of a believer named Demas who forsook him, "Having loved this present world" (2 Timothy 4:10). John warned: "Love not the world , neither the things that are in the world" (1 John 2:15).