Folau says no to a deal with the ‘devil’

ISRAEL Folau has told a church congregation that the way “Satan works is he offers you stuff that could look good to the eye” in relation to Rugby Australia’s offer to let him play again if he took down his homophobic social media post.

The 30-year-old spoke at The Truth of Jesus Christ church service in the Sydney suburb of Kenthurst yesterday saying he refused the “temptation”.

“There has been many opportunities to potentially make the situation a little bit easier, I could go back and play the game, get everything back to the way it used to be,” he said.

“The way Satan works is he offers you stuff that could look good to the eye and makes you feel comfortable, and if you follow that path all the worries and troubles will go away.

“(But) it is always the will of God that comes first.”

The highest Super Rugby tryscorer of all time was suspended and is in the midst of a legal battle with Rugby Australia after a publishing a social media post targeting homosexuals, adulterers, drunks and others. Last week he was found to have breached Rugby Australia’s code of conduct. Rugby Australia offered Folau a compromise, take down your post and you can play.

Folau refused.

“I got stood down with obviously, you know, by, posting up with what I did on social media and you know we’re at a stage at the moment, it’s not finished yet, but the outcome is yet to be known,” he told his fellow Pentecostal worshippers yesterday.

“It’s been really challenging, but also it’s been encouraging to myself to see what my God is actually doing.”

He said he could be sacked and for the first time in 13 years he would be without a lucrative sporting contract: “All the materialistic things I have been able to have over the last number of years are slowly being taken away from me.”

Folau was supported by the congregation of 50 people and joined by fellow NSW Waratah Le Roux Roets.