Satan's Strategies

Satan’s Strategies

God’s enemy is a strategist, a schemer. That is why the Apostle Paul admonished his congregation at Ephesus to, Put on the full armor of God, so that you can take your stand against the devil’s schemes (Ephesians 6:11). The Greek word for schemes is methodeia. So, it behooves God’s people to know the methods, the strategies of Satan, including his limitations. Specifically, we want to look at his deceptions, his corruptions, and his accusations.

Thinking about the dark side may seem intimidating to the would-be spiritual warrior or to the Christian who is plagued by demons. How much must I know to deal with the demonic? Neil Anderson provides this somewhat humorous illustration to help us focus on what is essential:

People’s lives are like houses. Suppose a family hasn’t taken the garbage out of their house for months, and they have spilled food and beverages without cleaning up. That will attract a lot of flies. To resolve this problem, I don’t think it is necessary to study the flight patterns of the flies and determine their names and rank structure in the insect hierarchy. There may be some value in doing this which I am not aware of, but I don’t think the answer is primarily found in gaining knowledge about and getting rid of the flies. Similarly, to “focus on the flies” in our lives is to allow the devil to set the agenda for us and distract us from the real issue — which is to get rid of the garbage. Repentance and faith in God have been and will continue to be the answer in this present church age.

Satan’ Deceptions:

Satan’s battle plan involves taking control of or influencing a person’s mind, usually without the person knowing it. Sinful practices such as those mentioned in Scripture that involve occult practices have captured many minds to the control of the “angel of light.” Actually, Satan is not an angel of light. Second Corinthians 11:14 says Satan disguises (meta schematizo) himself as an angel of light. More recent plagues, even epidemics, such as pornography, dark and evil video games, and mind-altering drugs throw the door wide open for Satan to enter; and little do his victims know of their subjugation. They think they are free, but truly they have become slaves to sin, as Paul documents in Romans 6:19-21.

I am using an example from everyday life because of your human limitations. Just as you used to offer yourselves as slaves to impurity and to ever-increasing wickedness, so now offer yourselves as slaves to righteousness leading to holiness. When you were slaves to sin, you were free from the control of righteousness. What benefit did you reap at that time from the things you are now ashamed of? Those things result in death! (NIV)

Many of these people thus trapped profess interest in the work of the Lord and fellowship in the church. Just as demonized people gravitated to Jesus, their attraction to the church is like a moth to a lightbulb. Perhaps they know that church is the one place where deliverance should be most likely to come. But most churches fall far short of recognizing the devil in their midst, let alone know how to deal with such destructive forces.

The primary attribute of Satan as a deceiver was manifested in his first encounter with humans in the Garden of Eden as he enticed Eve to disobey God’s command not to eat of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. God had told Adam, before Eve was created, that eating of that tree would result in death. Adam must have told Eve because she answered the tempter’s question by saying they were forbidden from eating of that tree. Well, you know the rest of the story, and all humanity has suffered ever since.

By the way, any men who feel morally superior need to notice that Eve gave the fruit also to her husband who was with her. His sin was probably worse than hers, in that he was not deceived; he sinned with full understanding of what he was doing. As still is the case often with men, he [Adam] chose the woman over God. But the main point here is that Eve spoke truth by saying to God, The serpent deceived me, and I ate (Genesis 3:13).

Neil Anderson sees the devil’s deception as his primary strategy for controlling people:

If I tempted you, you would know it. If I accused you, you would know it. But if I deceived you, you wouldn’t know it. If you knew you were being deceived, then you would no longer be deceived. Eve was deceived and she believed a lie. Deception has been the primary strategy of Satan from the beginning. That is why truth sets us free, and why Jesus prayed, “Sanctify them in the truth; Thy word is truth” (John 17:17). “Having girded [our] loins with truth” (Ephesians 6:14), we have available to us our first means of defense.