"...the whole world is under the sway of the evil one." 1 John 5:19
"Satan himself transforms himself into an angel of light. Therefore it is no great thing if his ministers also transform themselves into ministers of righteousness..." 2 Cor. 11:14-15
"Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits, whether they are of God; because many false prophets have gone out into the world...." 1 John 4:1
Whether we realize it or not, Christians are engaged in a spiritual war! We do not fight against flesh and blood (other people or animals), we fight against cosmic powers, against spiritual forces, against, principalities, evil powers, which are at work in the invisible spiritual realms. Satan and his forces will attack believers using multifaceted weapons and tactics, devices, schemes and strategies! We need to be aware, to be alert, to be discerning and READY to resist! Thank God, that every true believer in Christ, saved by his blood, can successfully resist by the power of the Spirit and His Word! We are promised, “Resist the devil and he will flee from you.”
One of the key elements in any contest is to understand the strategies and tactics of your opponent and to recognize the subtleties of the strategy or moves they may employ. A lot of money is spent in sports to study and analyse the tactics of the opposing team. In the spiritual battle of life, we need to develop some sophistication in recognizing, naming, and understanding the subtleties of common tactics of the Devil. We thank God that we are not ignorant of the schemes and tactics of the devil (Eph. 6:11).
Three Kinds of Temptations:
Body | Soul/Spirit | |
Lures: | food, sex, ads, comforts… | praise, power, pride, re-imagining God and His Word, books, movies, clothes... pressure to conform |
1 John 2:15-17 | "lust of the flesh" | "lust of the eyes" pride of life, self-exaltation and aggrandizement, vainglory, |
Genesis 3:6 | "good for food" | "delight to the eyes" or "make one wise" self-gratification, pursuit of pleasure rather pursuit of God or good. |
Ephesians 2:3 | "desires of the flesh" | "desires... of the mind" "according to...the spirit...of disobedience", Passions, lusts, covetousness which is idolatry. |
Resist with the Word of God | Rom. 12:1 "...present your bodies” to God… | Rom. 12:2 "do not be conformed to this world…." Rom. 12:3 Don’t think of yourself more highly than you ought… |
And now we examine four common tactics of the devil.
I. Deception – John 8:44
You are of your father the devil, and your will is to do your father's desires. He was a murderer from the beginning, and does not stand in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he lies, he speaks out of his own character, for he is a liar and the father of lies.
The devil deceives believers with many false and empty promises. Most of these relate to the lie that we will be happier and more fulfilled if we sin, or deny aspects of the truth or supress the truth. Many times he has used the old tale promise – no one will get to know about it! Whatever passing pleasures come with sin, they are in fact fleeting pleasures. Great and accumulated suffering eventually comes with almost all sinful activity in this life and if unrepented in eternity. Yet, despite this experience, human beings remain very gullible. Somehow, there is fleshly love for such empty promises and put all sorts of false hopes of them.
a) The devil deceives by suggesting all sorts of complexities, especially in your thinking. “Did God actually say…?” (Gen. 3:1). And thus he seeks to confuse and conceal the fundamental Biblical truths. Our minds are very wily and love to indulge complexity as a way of avoiding the truth and making excuses. So we, conniving with the devil, entertain endless complications by asking “But what if this….and What about that….??!” Along with the devil, we project all sorts of possible difficulties, exceptions, or potential sob stories, to avoid insisting on absolute truths that we or others behave well and live according to the truth. Do not try to bend the truth, for the lies of the devil will not simply bend you but destroy you.
b) The devil also seeks to deceive with “wordsmithing.” “You shall not eat of any tree in the garden? (Gen. 3:1) And thus the dismemberment and murder of a child through abortion becomes “reproductive freedom” or “Choice.” Sodomy is called “gay” (a word which used to mean “happy”). Fornication is called “cohabitation.” And the redefinition of marriage as it has been known for some 5000 years, is labeled “marriage freedom.” Our glowing Christian Faith and truth as well as ancient wisdom from the Scriptures is called “fanatical darkness” and “religious ignorance or blindness.” And thus, through exaggerations and outright false labelling, the devil deceives the world, and we too easily connive by calling evil good, or “no big deal,” what God calls sinful. The Word of God is the breath of God, and it is profitable for teaching, correction, reproof, training in righteousness so that we are mature and complete and thoroughly equipped for every good work. Read and study the Bible daily. Apply the truth you read to every situation of life. Live in obedience of the Scriptures.
c) The devil also deceives through the sheer volume of information. “You willl not surely die…your eyes will be opened and you will be like God… (Gen. 3:4-5.) Information is not the same as truth, and data can be assembled very craftily to make deceitful points. Election polls are collected and presented in such a way to sway the masses to favour a particular side - all over the world! Further, certain facts and figures can be emphasized, in exclusion to other, imbalancing truths, exaggerations, blatant lies spoken as if they are true. Like the theory of evolution has been presented over the years as if it is the truth. And thus even information or data which is true in itself becomes a form of deception. The news media, and other sources of information, sometimes exercise their greatest power in what they do not report. And this too is a way that the devil brings deceptions upon us. But if the book of the law, the Bible, does not depart from your mouth, and your heart, and you meditate on it day and night so that you are careful to do according to what is written in it, then you shall be prosperous and you will have good success (Joshua 1:8). You will be like a tree planted by the water, which yields its fruit in season and whose leaves do not wither - whatever you do will prosper, as you meditate, day and night on the law of the Lord (Psalm 1).
We do well to carefully assess the many ways Satan seeks to deceive us. Do not believe everything you think or hear, or watch on the TV or on the internet. Artificial Intelligence images have become almost a reality of our day. But it is what it is - AI not reality. The so called virtual reality is no reality at all. Even life experiences must be considered in light of Scriptures - these experiences as real as they may appear are not infallible. It is only the Scriptures which cannot be broken. While we ought not to be cynical, we ought to be sober, and seek to verify what we see and hear and square it with God’s revealed truth. The devil is the liar from the beginning and thus he is the father of all lies. Do not listen to his lies. Do not participate or propagate his lies.
II. Division – James 4:1-2.
What causes quarrels and what causes fights among you? Is it not this, that your passions are at war within you? You desire and do not have, so you murder. You covet and cannot obtain, so you fight and quarrel.
The Lord in John 17:22 highlights by His prayer that a chief aspect of his work on the Cross is to overcome the divisions intensified by Satan. Some argue that the Greek root of the word “diabolical” (diabolein) means to cut, tear, or divide. Jesus prays and works to reunify what the devil divides.
a) The devil’s work of division starts within each one of us (James 4:1-2a). As we experience many contrary drives, desires and ambitions, some noble, creative, and edifying, others base, sinful, and destructive. So often, we struggle within and feel torn apart, much as Paul describes in Romans chapter 7: The good that I want to do, I do not do…, and when I try to do good, evil is at hand. This is the work of the devil, to divide us within. And as Paul lays out in Romans 8, the chief work of the Lord is to establish within us the unity of soul and body, in accordance with the unity of His truth in His true Church by His Spirit. Let us always seek to be in step with the Spirit in the bond of peace.
b) And of course the devil’s attack against our inner unity, spills out into many divisions among God’s people externally (v.2). So many things help drive this schisms, and the devil surely taps into them all: anger, past hurts, resentments, bitterness, fears, misunderstandings, greed, pride, and arrogance. There is also the impatience that we so easily develop regarding those we love, and the flawed notion that somehow, other more perfect and desirable people should be sought. And thus many abandon their marriages, family, churches and communities, always in search of the elusive goal of finding better and more perfect people and situations. The grass is always greener the other side of the fence, isn’t it? The truth is that the grass will only be greener if you water it!
c) Yes, the devil has a real field day into a division among God’s people: … your passions at war within you (leads to) you being at war within you (spilling over to others in) murder, fight and quarrel. The whole plethora of sinful appetites and commotion in division is where the devil thrives. He waters divisions so that more sin is born, and multiplied. Paul describes it thus in Eph. 4: 30-31, And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, by whom you were sealed for the day of redemption. Let all bitterness and wrath and anger and clamour and slander be put away from you, along with all malice.
We do well to recognize this divisiveness in our midst and root it as soon by going to the offending party and prompting repentance. Whatever our struggles with others, we all share a common enemy who seeks to divide and destroy us. For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms (Eph 6:12). Feuding Brothers reconcile when there is genuine humility leading to repentance. We must be willing, always to humble ourselves like our Lord who did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but He humbled himself to the point of a servant, being born in the flesh. He humbled himself to the point of death on the cross! This is our Saviour and Lord. Let us then be of the same mind, having the same love, being in full accord and of one mind. Doing nothing out of rivalry or conceit, but in humility count others more significant than yourselves (Phil. 2:2-3).
III. Diversion – Heb. 12:1-2
Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight, and sin which clings so closely, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God.
To be diverted is to be turned away from what is our primary goal or task. And for all of us, the most critical focus is God, His Kingdom and our service to Him. Our path is toward heaven, along the path of faith and obedience to the truth. Love of God and love of neighbour. And thus the devil does all that he can to divert, that is, turn us away from our one true goal.
a) Absolving us in the passing pleasures of this world. Creation of wealth and prosperity is one thing that Satan has used to make the hearts of many grow thorns and thistles, so that they do not respond to the Word of God with certainty. So many claim that they are so busy that they have no time to pray, or go to the church, or seek other means of grace for their spiritual nourishment. They become absorbed in worldly things which pass, and ignore lasting reality which looms. While poverty has killed its thousands, prosperity has killed its tens of thousands. Watch out for the desires to be rich can plunge you into more troubles as read in 1 Timothy 6:9–10
But those who desire to be rich fall into temptation, into a snare, into many senseless and harmful desires that plunge people into ruin and destruction.For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evils. It is through this craving that some have wandered away from the faith and pierced themselves with many pangs.
b) Afflicting us with anxieties, fears and hopelessness. By these, the devil causes us to focus on fears about transient and temporary, and thereby not to have a proper fear of the judgment which awaits us. Jesus says Do not be afraid of those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. Rather, be afraid of the One who can destroy both soul and body in hell (Matt 10:28). In other words, we should have a holy reverence and fear directed towards the Lord, and in this way, many of our other fears will be seen in better perspective, or will go away altogether. But in this matter of fear, the devil says just the opposite: we should fear 10,000 things that might afflict us on this passing earth, and not think at all of the one most significant thing that awaits us, our judgment. How much do you think about your own death? LORD, teach us to number our days so that we may gain a heart of wisdom. Give us contentment O Lord!
c) Attacking us with diseases, poverty, and despair: Like he attacked the old Job, so does he do even now. He uses the same catastrophes and physical infirmities to distract us from being fully employed in the service of our gracious God. Yet our confidence is that He can only do God’s bidding and accomplish the purposes of God. For God works out all things together for our good. We must learn to face these trials with unreserved faith in God. Like Job, we must depend on God without wavering even though the dear ones die or he incites us to abandon God. We must say like Job, that "Though He slay me, yet I will trust in HIM!" We should have this attitude of the Psalmist, "Whom have in heaven but you? And there is nothing on earth that I desire besides you. My flesh and my heart may fail, but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever." (Ps. 73:25-26).
At the heart of all diversion is that the devil wants us to focus on lesser things to avoid focusing on God, and the greater things, such as moral decisions, and the overall direction of our life which God has given us direction about in his Word. Once again, we must learn to focus on what matters most, and decisively refuse to be diverted to lesser things.
IV. Discouragement – Heb. 12:12-13
Therefore lift your drooping hands and strengthen your weak knees, and make straight paths for your feet, so that what is lame may not be put out of joint but rather be healed.
As human beings, and certainly as Christians, we ought to have high aspirations. This is good. But as in all good things, Satan often seeks to chalice or poison them. For having high aspirations, it is also true that we sometimes lack the humility that recognizes that we must make a journey to that which is good, and best. Too easily then, Satan tempts us to impatience with our self or others leading to anger and bitterness. And, in our aspirations, expected in unreasonably quick time, there comes a lack of charity toward our self or others. Some grow discouraged with themselves or others and give up on the pursuit of holiness. Others give up on the church because of the imperfections found there.
a) The devil also discourages us, because aspirations are generally open-ended. The fact is, there is always room for improvement, and we can always do more. But here the devil enters, for, when we can always do more, it is also possible to think we’ve never done enough. And thus the devil discourages us, sowing thoughts of unreasonable demands within us as to what we can or should do day by day.
b) The devil also discourages us through simple things like fatigue, the personal failings that we all experience, setbacks, and other obstacles that are common to our human condition, and common to living in a fallen world with limited resources. While we must be cautious not to overextend our capacity, yet we must not give in slothfulness or laziness tendencies – we must attempt great things for God. We must be fervent in zeal.
Strategies | How to resist |
Temptation | Know your vulnerable areas |
Lies & half-truths | Know Truth well enough to discern error |
Deception | Be alert to Satan’s schemes |
Intimidation | Stand firm in Christ |
Fear | Count on God’s promises |
Theft | Protect your inheritance |
Murder | Hide in Jesus |
In all these ways to devil seeks to discourage us, to make us want, at some level, to give up. Yet the Lord constantly warns us against despair or giving up. It is only the one who endures to the end who shall conquer and be given the crown of life.
Only a properly developed sense of humility can help to save us from these discouraging works of Satan. Humility, which is reverence for the truth from God about ourselves, teaches us that we grow and develop slowly and in stages, and that we do in fact have setbacks, and live in a world that is hard, and far from perfect. Recognizing these things, and being humble, helps us to lean more on the Lord, and trust in his providential help, which grows in us incrementally. We must never forget that the one who endures to the end will be saved.
Beginning is good but it must come to the completion.
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