In order to be successful in a battle, you need to understand your enemy’s tactics and weaponry. If the enemy is using cannons, being armed with sticks isn’t gonna cut it!
The devil’s first attack on earth happened in the Garden of Eden when he appeared to Eve in the form of a serpent.
Gen 3:1 Now the serpent was more cunning than any beast of the field which Jehovah God had made. And he said to the woman, Is it so that God has said, You shall not eat of every tree of the garden?
Interesting to note that the term “serpent” used in the above verse comes from a root word meaning “to hiss or whisper a magic spell or to be an enchanter.
Notice how the serpent is described as being “cunning” – this can also be defined as “crafty” – and both terms are used in a negative sense.
With “craftiness” and “cunningness” the devil twisted God’s commandment in order to deceive Eve into disobeying God.
Gen 3:1 Now the snake was wiser [cunning]than any beast of the field which the Lord God had made. And he said to the woman, Has God truly said that you may not take of the fruit of any tree in the garden?
Gen 3:2 And the woman said, We may take of the fruit of the trees in the garden:
Gen 3:3 But of the fruit of the tree in the middle of the garden, God has said, If you take of it or put your hands on it, death will come to you.
Gen 3:4 And the snake said, Death will not certainly come to you:
Gen 3:5 For God sees that on the day when you take of its fruit, your eyes will be open, and you will be as gods, having knowledge of good and evil. (BBE)
The devil makes us question God, then he twists God’s word and lies to us about God, and finally he puts temptation in our path.
To deceive means to cause someone to wander or go astray from safety, truth or virtue. The following definition is from Webster’s Dictionary:
1. The act of deceiving or misleading.
All deception is a misapplication of the established signs used to communicate thoughts.
2. The state of being deceived or misled. Incautious and inexperienced youth is peculiarly exposed to deception.
3. Artifice practiced; cheat; as, a scheme is all a deception.
Interesting to note the above comment that “all deception is a misapplication of the established signs…” That is exactly what the devil does! He takes the established word of God and misapplies it or causes us to misapply it so that we are confused and easy to deceive.
Deception is the devil’s main weapon against mankind.
Gen 3:13 And Jehovah God said to the woman, What is this you have done? And the woman said, The serpent deceived me, and I ate.
2Co 11:3 But I fear lest by any means, as the serpent beguiled Eve in his craftiness, so your thoughts should be corrupted from the simplicity due to Christ. [the term “beguiled” also means to seduce, delude and deceive]
1Ti 2:14 And Adam was not deceived, but the woman being deceived was in the transgression. (Note that Adam was not deceived – he knew better but chose to do wrong anyways – but that is a topic for another post)
Mat 24:5 For many {man under the influence of the devil} will come in My name, saying, I am Christ, and will deceive many.
Mat 24:11 And many false prophets will rise and deceive many
2Jn 1:7 For many deceivers have entered into the world, who do not confess Jesus Christ coming in the flesh. This is the deceiver and the anti-christ.
Rev 19:20 And the beast was taken, and with him the false prophet doing signs before it, (by which he deceived those who had received the mark of the beast), and those who had worshiped his image.
Rev 20:2,3 And he laid hold on the dragon, that old serpent, who is the Devil and Satan, and bound him a thousand years. And he cast him into the abyss and shut him up and set a seal on him, that he should deceive the nations no more until the thousand years should be fulfilled.
Rev 20:7,8 And when the thousand years have expired, Satan will be loosed out of his prison. And he will go out to deceive the nations which are in the four quarters of the earth, …
Rev 20:10 And the Devil who deceived them was cast into the Lake of Fire and Brimstone, …
Another weapon the devil uses is temptation. Webster defines temptation as:
The act of tempting; enticement to evil by arguments, by flattery, or by the offer of some real or apparent good.
1. Solicitation of the passions; enticements to evil proceeding from the prospect of pleasure or advantage.
The devil even tried to tempt Jesus!
Mat 4:3 And when the tempter came to Him, he said, If You are the Son of God, command that these stones be made bread.
Luk 4:1,2 And Jesus, full of the Holy Spirit, returned from Jordan and was led by the Spirit into the wilderness forty days, being tempted by the Devil.
1Th 3:5 For this reason I also, when I could no longer endure the uncertainty, sent to know the condition of your faith, lest perchance the Tempter might have tempted you and our labour have been lost. (WNT)
Since there are some who blame God for temptation, I would like to include the following verse:
Jas 1:13 Let no one say when passing through trial, “My temptation is from God;” for God is incapable of being tempted to do evil, and He Himself tempts no one. (WNT)
The devil also uses lies as weapons against us.
Joh 8:44 The father whose sons you are is the Devil; and you desire to do what gives him pleasure. *He* was a murderer from the beginning, and does not stand firm in the truth–for there is no truth in him. Whenever he utters his lie, he utters it out of his own store; for he is a liar, and the father of lies.
The enemy’s arsenal: deception, temptation and lies. Let us not be “ignorant of his devices”. 2Cor 2:11
Blessings
heartshabitation 