The devices of the devil

The bible makes us understand that in the last days perilous times will come (2 Tim 3:1) and darkness shall cover the earth, and deep darkness the people (Isaiah 60:2a). Indeed those days are here already and the darkness will only get darker and worse (2 Tim 3:13), but certainly those that do know their God shall be strong and do exploits (Dan 11:32) and His glory shall be seen upon them (Isaiah 60:2b), even in the midst of the deep darkness. For this set of people who will bear the glory of God, who will stand strong and not be swept away by the devil, it is essential to have an accurate understanding of the tricks, gimmicks, antics, devices, and strategies of the enemy.

In 2 Cor. 2:11, Apostle Paul admonished that we should not be ignorant of Satan’s schemes, so that he won’t outwit us or take advantage of us as we are in a constant wrestling 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 6:12). And just as God has given us a spiritual armor and the weapons of our warfare are not physical but mighty through God for the pulling down of strongholds, so also the devil with his demons has his own weapons of war with which he battles against our souls. Hence, just like it is expedient in any warfare for an army to gain knowledge of the opponent’s plan/strategy in order to effectively map out a counter attack to remain victorious, so also we need an accurate knowledge of the devil’s strategies in order to resist him effectively and cause him to flee (James 4:7). 

So friends, let’s take a look into some of the major artilleries (this is not an exhaustive list) in the arsenal of the devil:

1. Deception/Subtle Lies

This is one of the most powerful weapons of the devil. The devil is that old serpent, who deceives the whole world referred to in Rev 12:9 and just like snakes have camouflaging skin, the devil camouflages to deceive lives and the way he (the old serpent) works is by masking error with truth, mixing it up so that it looks like truth. This was the very strategy he used for Eve at the beginning in the Garden of Eden, when he told her their eyes will be opened to know good and evil after eating the fruit of the tree that God had commanded them not to eat of. Indeed their eyes were opened after eating the fruit and they realized they were naked, but he lied to her that they will surely not die (Gen 3:1-7) and this simple deception translated to the fall of the entire human race bringing sin, death, agony, disease, sorrow etc. into lives of men.

Over thousands and thousands of years, this old trick still remains one of the devil’s major weapons to steal, kill, and destroy lives (John 10:10). He used it in the beginning, he is still using it, and he will still use it in the days ahead until he is finally cast into the lake of fire (Rev 20:10). This is the reason why Jesus warned the disciples while speaking to them about the end of the age, saying “Take heed that no one deceives you, (Matt. 24:5) beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ravenous wolves" (Matt. 7:15). Many false prophets will rise up and deceive many (Matt. 24:11), they will rise and show great signs and wonders to deceive (Matt. 24:24).” And as we’ve already began to see in these last days, many have been deceived and many more will be deceived by the multitude of false teachers introducing another gospel all over the nations. These false teachers lace their errors and heresies with some truth so that many are easily deceived. Therefore, for as many as will remain standing till the end, we must ensure we 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)

In addition, we must be deliberate in guarding our hearts with all diligence, for everything we do flows from it (Prov. 4:23). The devil knows once he can get a hold of your heart he has gotten you because that is the center point. He knows that what goes into your heart through your eyes and ears influence your actions and who you become hence he tries to infiltrate our hearts gradually and subtly with lies and filth through TV shows, dirty comedies, movies, internet, music etc. He tries to infiltrate our thoughts so that he can gain control of our minds, push us around and direct our lives. He tries all his best to infiltrate our hearts with evil advice and bad ideas through friends, colleagues, and even respected people like parents or even a pastor just like he spoke through Peter telling the Lord not to go to the cross, (Matt 16:22-23). The truth is, the fact that a man of God said something doesn’t mean it’s from God, we still have a responsibility to cross check it with the scriptures like the Berean Christians as recorded in Acts 17:11, “Now the Berean Jews were of more noble character than those in Thessalonica, for they received the message with great eagerness and examined the Scriptures every day to see if what Paul said was true.”

Furthermore, on a larger scale the devil influences culture with lies through art and media, and locks in generations and multitudes in bias against the truth of God’s word. He propagates lies through scientific theories to turn men from believing the account of God’s word regarding creation and life. He infiltrates high places of government among nations to set laws poised to hinder the augmentation of the Kingdom of God like he did in the days of the apostles when they were told by the rulers not to preach in the Name of Jesus. Now he’s taking the mention of the Name of God out of everything, in order to fill everything with lies, taking away the bible and prayers from schools filling youths with lies and turning their hearts against the truth from an early age so that the coming generation will be bereft of the truth.

Lies from Satan will increase in these last days, and he will use these lies to mess with people’s minds, to fuel fear, discouragement, depression, despair, to keep souls oppressed, in poverty and in bondage. Anyone who is ignorant of God’s word will be an easy target for the devil to consume, therefore we must constantly feed ourselves with the word of God to fuel our faith and diligently study it to know the truth and stand unshakeable.

2. Bates/Temptations/Snares 

The devil tries to lure and entice us with carnal things because he doesn’t want us to be presented blameless before the judgment throne of God. He sets bates to trap us. He strives to get us to disobey God and sin thereby breaking the covering of God around us. He understands that whoever breaks through a hedge will be bitten by a serpent. (Eccl. 10:8). He tempts us with the things that attract us such as money, sex, power, food and he comes strategically disguised during our weakest moments when we are not at alert. This is the very reason why we must watch and pray (Matt.26:41), be sober and vigilant; because our adversary the devil walks about like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour (1peter 5:8).

The story of the children of Israel recorded in Numbers 25:1-9 clearly illustrates how the devil uses this weapon against the people of God. The devil knowing the law of God, because he was the anointed Cherub, he was there on the holy mountain of God, and he walked in the midst of the stones of fire (Ez. 28:14) before his fall (which happened because of the pride in his heart), got 24,000 men slain in one day without raising a sword simply by using women as bates and getting them to sin against God.

However, we have a great example in the Lord Jesus, who overcame the temptations of the devil in the wilderness by the word of God (Matt. 4:1-11) which is the sword of the Spirit for us to withstand the temptations of the devil and cause him to flee.

3. Persecution/Hindrances 

The devil is not just the old serpent, he is also the great dragon (Rev 12:9) and whenever he’s unable to pull us down with deception, temptation etc., he launches a consistent fire of persecution at us from his mouth. Of a truth, Apostle Paul affirmed to Timothy that, “All who will live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution” (2 Tim 3:12). The enemy will raise persecution in all forms against us, to cause us to leave the narrow way and quit following the Lord. He raises false accusations against us like he did with Joseph but yet God turned the evil around for good. He persecutes you by making sure you are fired because you refused to tell a lie on behalf of your company. He strives to afflict lives with pain, disease, sorrow to put pressure to cause us to curse God and quit following the way of righteousness. In certain parts of the world (e,g. Africa, Middle East, Asia) he even raises physical attacks, imprisonments, and killings against the people of God, while in other parts he raises persecution in forms of ridicule and mockery.

He also tries all his best and deploys every means within his reach to hinder anything that is good (i.e. anything that is of God). He tries to hinder the work of the Lord, he tries to hinder our spiritual growth, and he tries to hinder us from fulfilling the very purpose of God for our lives. He uses all sorts of things as obstacles and hindrances against us. In his first letter to the Thessalonians, Paul said “we wanted to come to you—even I, Paul, again and again—but Satan hindered us.” (1 Thess 2:18)

Likewise, Nehemiah faced opposition over and over again in rebuilding the walls of Jerusalem; however, he persisted in prayer and overcame. So also we need to pray without ceasing to prevail in the face of stiff incessant opposition of the devil even as we overcome him by the blood of the Lamb, and by the word of our testimony (Rev. 12:11)

4. Disunity 

Satan always hates Christian fellowship – in fact, it is his policy to keep Christians apart. He delights in anything which can divide saints from one another. He attaches far more importance to godly communion than many of us do. Since union is strength, he does his best to promote separation. He tries to bring disunity in our homes, churches, etc. He brings divorce into families so that he could destroy the lives of the children. He knows that a threefold cord cannot be easily broken (Eccl. 4:12). Isolation is a major tool of the enemy. An isolated Christian is an easy prey for him just like a piece of wood burning alone will die out as opposed to several logs piece burning brightly together in the fireplace.

The devil knows that the Spirit of God cannot cohabit with strife, rancor and all sorts, so he does his best to introduce all of these in order to get us divided and weaken the body of Christ. In the upper room, they were all in unity, that's why the Holy Spirit could come upon them. “Behold, how good and how pleasant it is for brethren to dwell together in unity! It is like the precious oil upon the head, running down on the beard, the beard of Aaron, running down on the edge of his garments. It is like the dew of Hermon, descending upon the mountains of Zion; for there the Lord commanded the blessing— Life forevermore” (Ps 133:1-3). He also knows that almost nothing will be impossible if there is unity, like in the building of the tower of Babel, because even God said, “If as one people speaking the same language they have begun to do this, then nothing they plan to do will be impossible for them” (Gen 11:6).

The devil tries to get our energy dissipated instead of coming together synergistically to strengthen and encourage each other to finish strong the race set before us because all his effort is aimed at dragging as many people as possible with him to the pits of hell, into the fire that never shall be quenched: where their worm never dies, and the fire is not quenched (Mark 9:45-46). To achieve his sinister plot of disunity, the enemy uses self, pride and unforgiveness in us, therefore, in order to counter his moves, we must take heed to Paul’s admonition in Phil 2:3, “Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit. Rather, in humility value others above yourselves”.

5. Distractions

The last but definitely not the least weapon of the devil that we’ll examine is his plot to always bring distractions in all forms to divert our attention from focusing on the right things. He tries to occupy us with fun, games, and even work (this things are not bad in themselves), keeping us busy with vanity and cares of life all day, all our lives, from cradle to grave, taking our attention and focus away from things above, away from seeking the kingdom of God, away from occupying for the Lord till He returns. He tries all he can to keep us from praying. He uses distractions as weapons to attack our prayer life because he knows that a prayerless Christian is an easy prey to him. If you take a survey of men and women who have backslidden from the faith, more often than not, you will find out that the first thing the enemy attacked that led to their fall was their prayer life. He distracts us with ephemeral things to keep us from studying the bible to know God's will and prevent us from spending time to hear His instruction, so that he can feed our minds with lies cooked in the pits of hell.

Jesus made it clear saying, “I am the vine, you are the branches. He who abides in Me, and I in him, bears much fruit; for without Me you can do nothing.” (John 15:5). So the devil knows we can do nothing by ourselves, so he tries to get us away from that place of prayer/communion, he tries to get us detached from our connection point with the vine so that he can weaken us which makes us vulnerable to his attacks. This is why the Lord warned us ahead, saying, “Be careful not to let yourselves become occupied with too much feasting, drunkenness, and cares of this life, and that Day come on you unexpectedly.” (Luke 21:34)

In conclusion, even though the enemy attacks us with all these weapons, he is not to blame for any of our actions or our eternal destination because Christ has given us power (to as many as will receive him) to tread on serpents and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy (Luke 10:19), and the freewill to make choices. It’s not the devil that makes you too lazy to pray. It’s not the devil that moved your eyes to look at dirty movies. We have a choice to resist him. We have the power to put him down each time he comes at us. It is solely our choice to oblige him or shut him down.

"Finally, my brethren, be strong in the Lord and in the power of His might. Put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil. For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this age, against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places. Therefore take up the whole armor of God, that you may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand. Stand therefore, having girded your waist with truth, having put on the breastplate of righteousness, and having shod your feet with the preparation of the gospel of peace; above all, taking the shield of faith with which you will be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked one. And take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God;praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit, being watchful to this end with all perseverance and supplication for all the saints". (Eph. 6:10-18)