Welcome. Today we’re going to be talking about the Devil and his devices. (2Co 2:11) Lest Satan should get an advantage of us: for we are not ignorant of his devices. We have to educate ourselves about the Devil and his tricks so that we aren’t ignorant. That’s what we’re going to be doing today.

The best way to keep yourself from being caught off guard is to be informed. This throws a major monkey-wrench in the Devil’s plans because many of his devices require us to be ignorant. If we know how to spot the traps, we won’t get snared. Information is truly a powerful weapon to have at your disposal since it can allow you to resist the Devil and his insidious traps and tricks.

So what are some of Satan’s devices?

One device is blinding the minds of the people. (2Co 4:4) 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. The ‘god of this world’ is the Devil himself. He has blinded the minds of many people and has led them astray, so far that the gospel of Christ does not shine on them and they find themselves in darkness.

We know this is going to happen, not only from that verse, but also from (1Ti 4:1) Now the Spirit speaketh expressly, that in the latter times some shall depart from the faith, giving heed to seducing spirits, and doctrines of devils; (1Ti 4:2) Speaking lies in hypocrisy; having their conscience seared with a hot iron; (1Ti 4:3) Forbidding to marry, and commanding to abstain from meats, which God hath created to be received with thanksgiving of them which believe and know the truth.

We are coming into the latter times now, as we see that many have departed from the faith. This past Easter week, there was a story in a major news magazine reporting that the amount of people that outright deny religion in general has grown by a considerable amount in the past several years. While we might still have a majority claiming Christianity, the minority is very vocal, and sadly, really is growing all the time.

We also have people departing from the faith in a different way as well. They might still claim Christianity, but what does the Bible tell us of them? They give heed to seducing spirits and doctrines of devils. They are falling away from the true faith and following doctrines and principles that are absolutely false.

This is where you start seeing the gospel of prosperity and the little gods doctrines come in, both of which are utterly wrong. Think of the actual opening music for this podcast. The first voice is Jim Jones, the second Kenneth Copeland, and the third is Porky Pig pointing out how insane what they are saying is.

People that follow these teachings are being led down a road away from the Lord and the truth of the Bible. This is a blinding of their minds, one of Satan’s devices.

Also we see that people will speak lies and hypocrisy, which is also more than readily apparent in our world today. We have people that claim to be Christian and then turn around and endorse homosexuality or witchcraft or drunkenness or something like that. We have had several high profile preachers end up in scandal over the past several years. While they might be preaching doctrines that true believers disagree with, the rest of the world sees them just as Christians and they think we’re all hypocrites for it.

Then there are many out there that will ‘amen’ when someone reads Exodus 22:18 and turn around and be absolutely fine with Harry Potter. They prove that they do not want to practice what they preach, so to speak. People will agree with (1Th 5:22) Abstain from all appearance of evil, but when that latest horror flick comes out, they are Johnny-on-the-spot to see it. The non believing world just looks at things like that and thinks that there is no reason to be Christian if we are nothing but hypocrites. They are influenced by our actions. That’s why making sure we, as professed Christians, don’t go get slobbering drunk or get caught cheating on our spouses or anything like that because we are representatives for our Lord. As the old saying goes, you might be all the Jesus someone ever sees.

The doctrines of atheism, Darwinism, and humanism are blinding the minds of many in the world today. The idea that there is no God is absolutely insane to the point of being just silly. To make this claim does nothing more that actually prove the Bible to be true. (Rom 1:22) Professing themselves to be wise, they became fools, and they are foolish because they cannot answer even the simplest of things. How could a giraffe evolve? Did they climb trees to eat before they grew their neck? If this worked, why didn’t they just become a tree dweller like a koala bear or something? Did they eat grass? If so, why didn’t they just become a creature like a cow or an antelope? No matter how you look at it, it has to be really worked over to allow for evolution. There is a reason for this. (1Co 1:27) But God hath chosen the foolish things of the world to confound the wise; and God hath chosen the weak things of the world to confound the things which are mighty.

How can we defend against such things? The first way we can defend against being blinded is to actually go on the offense! (2Co 10:3) For though we walk in the flesh, we do not war after the flesh: (2Co 10:4) (For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty through God to the pulling down of strongholds;) (2Co 10:5) Casting down imaginations, and every high thing that exalteth itself against the knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ; this is our battle plan against being blinded. We have weapons so powerful through God that they can pull down castles and strongholds. What are these weapons? The sword of the spirit which is the word of God and the heavy artillery of prayer.

And what is the word of God? Truth. (Joh 8:32) And ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free. This truth defeats any false argument and casts down all lies. Check out Paul in (Act 17:2) And Paul, as his manner was, went in unto them, and three sabbath days reasoned with them out of the Scriptures, (Act 17:3) Opening and alleging, that Christ must needs have suffered, and risen again from the dead; and that this Jesus, whom I preach unto you, is Christ. Paul effectively used the Scriptures to covert many.

We also can counter this blindness by having a Christ-like attitude. We express this by being patient and gentle with others as we see in (2Ti 2:24) And the servant of the Lord must not strive; but be gentle unto all men, apt to teach, patient, (2Ti 2:25) In meekness instructing those that oppose themselves; if God peradventure will give them repentance to the acknowledging of the truth; (2Ti 2:26) And that they may recover themselves out of the snare of the devil, who are taken captive by him at his will.

Another device that Satan tries to use against us is getting us hooked on the things of the world. This is a very effective device of Satan, working both to keep the non-believer from Christ, and even separating the Christian from proper worship of the Lord. We find this device detailed in (1Jn 2:15) Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him. (1Jn 2:16) For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world.

This device was used against Eve by the serpent when he convinced her to eat of the fruit of the tree. He convinced her to look to the things of the world, which was the fruit, and not to godly things, which would be keeping the commands of the Lord.

But Eve was not the only person that Satan used this device against. He also used it against Jesus, only this time it didn’t work so well. He tempted Jesus to turn the stones to bread which is the lust of the flesh, he tempted Jesus to throw Himself down which is the pride of life, and offered all that Jesus could see to Him for worship which is the lust of the eyes. Jesus of course just completely defeated Satan’s temptations.

Satan has brought his weapon of loving the world to us as well. And we’re not Jesus and many are not turning away from the temptations. They are instead being snared by a love of the world, and are suffering because of it.

What do I mean by ‘love of the world’? Well when you become too wrapped up in things in life and allow those things to intervene between you and your relationship with God. I am not talking about the physical world, that is created by God and is a beautiful thing. I am talking about the things that man has brought into the world.

Immorality could be considered a ‘love of the world’ since it is surely not something of God. This lust of the flesh includes all the things listed in Galatians 5:19-21, and we’ve talked about those things in a past episode so I’ll let most of those be. I do want to reiterate that things like pornography can put a huge gap in your relationship with God. It’s really easy to get hooked into porn and loose sight of the Lord. Sex in general can be a minefield, and that’s why God gave us the guidelines of marriage so that we can avoid sexual pratfalls.

Materialism is another massive problem we have in our world that is a ‘love of the world’. If keeping up with the Joneses is a priority for you, odds are you are worshipping at the altar of the almighty dollar and not the altar of God Almighty. Materialism is becoming such a priority in our society that we do not even notice it many times.

We all get wrapped up in wanting this and that and we don’t put God first. We want the new big screen T.V., we want the PS3, we want the Blu-ray player but how often do you hear people clamoring for God, or even for a new Bible in that case? No, instead everyone seems wrapped up in getting bigger and better things. We must be careful not to be materialistic. We also must be careful and not covet, since doing so is idolatry as we’re told in Ephesians 5:5 and Colossians 3:5.

Arrogance is also a love of the world that we are to avoid. Another way of thinking of arrogance is pride. Pride is of course one of the infamous 7 Deadly Sins, and for good reason. (Psa 10:4) The wicked, through the pride of his countenance, will not seek after God: God is not in all his thoughts. So by being proud and arrogant, you lend yourself to being wicked, and then God is no longer in your thoughts. Your thoughts are then all about the world, and the things in the world.

(Pro 8:13) The fear of the LORD is to hate evil: pride, and arrogance, and the evil way, and the froward mouth, do I hate. So because we are to hate it, we can safely infer that arrogance and pride are against God. (Pro 11:2) When pride cometh, then cometh shame: but with the lowly is wisdom. This is why pride and arrogance are part of the world, because they bring shame.

How can we protect ourselves against the things of the world? Firstly you can protect yourself by staying in the word of God! Seek the word more than you seek anything else and you will be well on your way to overcoming the things of the world. This is part of how Jesus was able to overcome His temptations because He was (quite obviously) utterly immersed in God’s word! Notice that after every temptation Jesus opens with ‘It is written…’ If we keep ourselves in His word, we’re going to find that it is much easier to move past our own temptations.

We need to develop a strong love for the Father as well. As the verse we went over a minute ago about the love of the world shows, a love of the Father is not compatible with a love for the world. (Jas 4:4) Ye adulterers and adulteresses, know ye not that the friendship of the world is enmity with God? whosoever therefore will be a friend of the world is the enemy of God. It does really come down to a choice, which side are you going to pick? (Mat 6:24) No man can serve two masters: for either he will hate the one, and love the other; or else he will hold to the one, and despise the other. Ye cannot serve God and mammon.

When we stay in the word and when we develop a strong love for God, we will be able to more effectively resist the love of the world. (Jas 4:7) Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. Set Satan on his heels!

Another device of Satan is to persecute those who do right. Satan also uses this device against us in our modern world, and to great effect. Many Christians face persecution and allow it to drive a wedge between them and God. When things get bad, they sometimes blame God, or just forget about Him.

There are many that face quite direct, and quite severe persecution, often at a level we can’t even imagine here. There are those that are dying for the faith right now. And the level of persecution is growing for Christians all over the world, as it will do continually until the End.

We do face, here in America, a great deal of social persecution when we express our beliefs. This can be seen with the recent firestorm of persecution suffered by that beauty pageant contestant that answered honestly about homosexual marriage. We face a great deal of ridicule by society. This persecution, especially when it comes through peer pressure, is very effective in stopping some believers from sharing their faith openly. When people refuse to back off their beliefs, they are oftentimes ostracized.

How can we defend ourselves against this device? Firstly by encouraging each other! We need to be there for our fellow Christians and be supportive of each other. Fellowshipping with other Christians is not only good for us and our faith, it’s also usually quite enjoyable. Most people enjoy having friends. And by having friends, and being friends to others, we can help encourage each other and help each other through troublesome times.

We also need to adopt the proper attitude, which is to rejoice in the Lord no matter what we face in our lives. (Jas 1:2) My brethren, count it all joy when ye fall into divers temptations; (Jas 1:3) Knowing this, that the trying of your faith worketh patience. (Jas 1:4) But let patience have her perfect work, that ye may be perfect and entire, wanting nothing. Do you count it joy when you suffer persecution? The Bible is telling us that is exactly what we are to do. (Rom 5:3) And not only so, but we glory in tribulations also: knowing that tribulation worketh patience; (Rom 5:4) And patience, experience; and experience, hope: There is something to be gained from weathering the storm. Finally, (1Th 5:16) Rejoice evermore.

We can also defend against this by committing ourselves to God. (1Pe 4:19) Wherefore let them that suffer according to the will of God commit the keeping of their souls to him in well doing, as unto a faithful Creator. God knows what you go through and it’s not lost on Him. (2Th 1:4) So that we ourselves glory in you in the churches of God for your patience and faith in all your persecutions and tribulations that ye endure: (2Th 1:5) Which is a manifest token of the righteous judgment of God, that ye may be counted worthy of the kingdom of God, for which ye also suffer: (2Th 1:6) Seeing it is a righteous thing with God to recompense tribulation to them that trouble you; (2Th 1:7) And to you who are troubled rest with us, when the Lord Jesus shall be revealed from heaven with his mighty angels, (2Th 1:8) In flaming fire taking vengeance on them that know not God, and that obey not the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ: so know that you can take comfort in the fact that there will be rest for us that suffer and come out the other side with our faith. So give yourself to God and know that your service and your sufferings, all of it, are being noted by He who matters most.

Satan also has the device of getting us to enjoy evil company. Who you associate yourself with is very important and says a lot about you. It also affects you in a big way. Our company can thwart our intentions to do good. (1Co 15:33) Be not deceived: evil communications corrupt good manners. So if you are hanging out with someone that communicates in an evil fashion, it will work against you if you are trying to be a good example.

(2Co 6:14) Be ye not unequally yoked together with unbelievers: for what fellowship hath righteousness with unrighteousness? and what communion hath light with darkness? So we really don’t even have any business keeping company with non believers. We need to be working to educate them about Jesus, but beyond that, we should not be all hanging out being buddy-buddy. The reason for this is because odds are you’re not going to get your non believing buddies to go to church functions, but instead odds are they are going to get you whatever they are doing.

So obviously the best way to defend against this device is to keep godly company. (Pro 13:20) He that walketh with wise men shall be wise: but a companion of fools shall be destroyed. Again, remember what I just said about being unequally yoked. Finally (2Co 6:17) Wherefore come out from among them, and be ye separate, saith the Lord, and touch not the unclean thing; and I will receive you. We should keep ourselves separate from those of the world that have a love of the world.

We are to witness to them and to try to lead them to the Lord, but we’re not supposed to throw back a brewsky with them. We should be friends with those that are fellow believers, and we are to be witnesses that call others out of the world and into the love of the Lord.

This covers many of the devices that Satan uses against us in the world, but it is by no means comprehensive. It is nothing more than a bit of an example so that you can use the Bible and your own judgment to weed out the others. Satan adapts, and responds to different conditions and adjusts his tactics accordingly, so we have to do so as well. We must be ever vigilant else we’re going to end up in a bad place. (1Pe 5:8) Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour: you don’t want to be devoured, that’s for sure!

The Devil is strong. We need to keep that in mind as we go about our lives. We have to be vigilant against his attacks, and there will be attacks, that’s for sure. If we are ignorant of the Devil’s devices, we will susceptible to his traps. We must stand strong for God, stand strong in His word, and rely on Him and we’ll be just fine.

Let’s close with (Eph 6:10) Finally, my brethren, be strong in the Lord, and in the power of his might. (Eph 6:11) Put on the whole armor of God, that ye may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil. (Eph 6:12) For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places. (Eph 6:13) Wherefore take unto you the whole armor of God, that ye may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand. Until next time, God bless.

This entry was posted on Thursday, May 7th, 2009 at 7:01 pm and is filed under Uncategorized | . You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.