It is said that you can tell the character of the parents by watching their children.  Whether or not that is always true, the children of God have been born-again into His family, and He wants them to acquire His nature.  However, our sinful nature still exerts its influence.  John started his letter by writing, “If we claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us.” (1 John 1:8).  The godly response is to loath our sin, confess and repent of it and receive God’s forgiveness (1 John 1:9).  The ungodly response is to continue in sin without repentance: that is a characteristic of people who do not have God’s nature.  

Although it sounds sinister, the devil has children too.  They believe his lies and carry out his purpose of defying God: they deny the divinity and work of Christ.  They do not care that sin is highly offensive to their heavenly Father. They live lives that are not right according to God's Word, they persist in sin and they teach the 'normality' of sinfulness to others (Romans 1:32).

The problem is not just embedded in the world and sinful fleshliness; it is also embedded in Christless religion.  Jesus spoke about the religious leaders, who refused to accept His authority, like this: "Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You travel over land and sea to win a single convert, and when you have succeeded, you make them twice as much a child of hell as you are." (Matthew 23:15).  They too are children of the devil: therefore the children of God should not accept their spiritual authority.

The Apostle Paul said the same, "The Spirit clearly says that in later times some will abandon the faith and follow deceiving spirits and things taught by demons. Such teachings come through hypocritical liars, whose consciences have been seared as with a hot iron." (1 Timothy 4:1-2).  Although persecution is a terrible burden to bear, a greater danger to the church comes from false teachers.  Beware.  Do not be naïve, test every spiritual influence (1 John 4:1) and love the children of God – and do not be lured away from your devotion to Christ by the children of the devil.