Aside from God, Jesus, the Holy Spirit and prominent godly men and women in the Bible, the devil is also one of the most talked about individual. The Bible begins with the devil in Genesis 3 in the form of the seducing and talking serpent and ends with the devil being cast into the lake of fire (Rev. 20:10). The Bible have much to say about the devil too. Notice the following.
1. THE TEMPTATION OF THE DEVIL. “Then was Jesus led up of the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted of the devil” (Mt. 4:1 KJV, see also Luke 4:2). Jesus was tempted by the devil. Not all temptations comes from the devil but he sure does is the chief cause of it. If he tempted Christ he can tempt anyone of us as well. It is quite easy for Satan to tempt humans because of their sinful proclivities. Our world is riddled with temptations of all sorts. Believers and unbelievers alike are tempted. The temptations to become rich, independent, happy, powerful, popular, smart and be somebody beckons everyone.
2. THE MADNESS OF THE DEVIL. “For he had commanded the unclean spirit to come out of the man. For oftentimes it had caught him: and he was kept bound with chains and in fetters; and he brake the bands, and was driven of the devil into the wilderness” (Luke 8:29 KJV). The devil in this verse is a demon named Legion speaking in behalf of other demons possessing a man in the country of the Gadarenes. There are people who are mad on their own, but others are mad because of the influence of evil spirits. Mad men are not just mad by themselves, they are mad because the devil drives them. I am of the opinion that not only religious but many of our civil leaders, especially world leaders are influenced or driven by the devil through what they believe and by the people that surround them.
3. THE LUSTS OF THE DEVIL. “Ye are of your father the devil, and the lusts of your father ye will do. He was a murderer from the beginning, and abode not in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaketh a lie, he speaketh of his own: for he is a liar, and the father of it” (John 8:44 KJV). John says “the devil sinneth from the beginning” (1 John 3:8 KJV). This is the sin of lust. The devil lusted to dethrone and replace God (Isa. 14:12-14; Ezek. 28:11-17). Lust is alive and well in our world today. The lust for power, money, knowledge and control is everywhere. Lust is a very deadly sin. “When when lust hath conceived, it bringeth forth sin: and sin, when it is finished, bringeth forth death” (James 1:15 KJV).
4. THE OPPRESSION OF THE DEVIL. “How God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Ghost and with power: who went about doing good, and healing all that were oppressed of the devil; for God was with him” (Acts 10:28 KJV). Jesus set free people who were oppressed by the devil. In the gospels we see this oppression in the form of possession, and sicknesses and diseases. Not all sicknesses and diseases are of the devil, but many sure are. The devil can us natural causes to inflict men with terrible pain, heartaches and diseases just like he did to job (Job 1& 2). The devil too uses men to oppress men. The decisions and choices of very rich and very powerful people does affect everyone and a modern and subtle form of slavery is already at work.
5. THE CHILDREN OF THE DEVIL. “And said, O full of all subtilty and all mischief, thou child of the devil, thou enemy of all righteousness, wilt thou not cease to pervert the right ways of the Lord?” (Acts 13:10 KJV). Jesus said the religious Pharisees were children of the devil (John 8:44). John says there are only two kinds of people in the world: the children of God and the children of the devil (1 John 3:10). And because they belong to the devil they commit the same sins the devil commits (1 John 3:8). In Acts 13 Paul calls Elymas the sorcerer or the false prophet Bar Jesus a child of the devil. Occult practitioners are no doubt children of the devil. The devil has more children than the children of God and they oppose the work and workers of Jesus Christ. All people because of sin are born children of the devil. Only through the new birth can these children of the devil become children of God according to Jesus (John 3:1-21). “Ye must be born again,” Jesus said (John 3:7KJV).
6. THE WILES OF THE DEVIL. “Put on the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil” (Eph. 6:11 KJV). The word “wiles” come from the Greek methodeia where we get the word “method.” It also means “tricks.” The devil is a trickster and he is very good and successful at it. The devil knows the weak and vulnerable spots of the believers’ armor and they better be careful. Like God the devil is no respecter of persons. He doesn’t care if you are a baby Christian, a church leader, a mature believer, a missionary, a bible scholar, or a Spirit-filled son or daughter of God. When he gets his chance he will deceive and seek your destruction. But through the same armor and by the Holy Spirit believers in Christ can overcome him. Both James and Peter admonish Christians to “resist the devil…and he will flee from you” (James 4:7; 1 Peter 5:8,9).
7. THE CONDEMNATION OF THE DEVIL. “Not a novice, lest being lifted up with pride he fall into the condemnation of the devil” (1 Tim. 3:6 KJV). When the devil tried to usurp God he was immediately condemned. Jesus said, “I beheld Satan as lightning fall from heaven” (Luke 10:18 KJV). In Ezekiel 28:17 God said, “Thine heart was lifted up because of thy beauty, thou hast corrupted thy wisdom by reason of thy brightness: I will cast thee to the ground, I will lay thee before kings, that they may behold thee” (KJV). Both Paul and Ezekiel tells us pride was the cause of Satan’s fall and condemnation. At the cross the devil and his fallen angels and demons were also condemned (Col. 2:14,15) and his final condemnation will be in the lake of fire (Rev. 20:10). The devil’s condemnation is three tiered: at the onset of his rebellion, at the cross and finally in the lake of fire.
8. THE SNARE OF THE DEVIL. “Moreover he must have a good report of them which are without; lest he fall into reproach and the snare of the devil” (1 Tim. 3:7 KJV, also in 2 Tim. 2:26). The devil is a hunter and he loves to trap sinners. He traps sinners through their sinful nature, through the world, and through false doctrines. Those whom the devil has caught “are taken captive by him at his will,” that is, they obey him. I find it amazing that sinners easily obey the devil than believers obeying God. While Christians struggle to obey the Lord, sinners happily comply the devil’s wishes.
9. THE POWER OF THE DEVIL. “To open their eyes, and to turn them from darkness to light, and from the power of Satan unto God, that they may receive forgiveness of sins, and inheritance among them which are sanctified by faith that is in me” (Acts 26:18 KJV). The devil is a formidable foe but he is not omnipotence. Even angels respected the devil while rebuking them (Jude 9). As “god of this world” (2 Cor. 4:4) the devil is a force to be reckoned and he works “with all power and signs and lying wonders” (2 Thess. 2:9 KJV). But all that changed when Jesus came. Jesus came to destroy the devil and his power (Heb. 2:14). Our verse above tells us four things Jesus did when he came: (1) to open blind eyes (eyes of sinners), (2) to turn them to light from darkness, (3) to forgive sinners their sins, and (4) to give them the kingdom of God, their “inheritance.” The devil may be powerful but he is weak compared to Jesus Christ and to God the Father. That is why believers are admonished not to be afraid of the devil.
10. THE DEPTHS OF THE DEVIL. “But unto you I say, and unto the rest in Thyatira, as many as have not this doctrine, and which have not known the depths of Satan, as they speak; I will put upon you none other burden” (Rev. 2:24 KJV). The depths of Satan is “the deep secrets of Satan.” Many people in the church in Thyatira through Jezebel followed the depths of Satan. How deceitful this can be. Even Christians can be deceived. If God has his “deep things” (1 Cor. 2:10), Satan too has his own version of it. Have you ever noticed that false teachers inside the church often claim to have received something “deep” from God that upon closer scrutiny is actually deviant from Scripture? The depths of Satan is alive and well today and permeates churches. If this refers to Gnosticism then, it simply means Gnosticism still exist today and afflicts churches. I may even infer that inside the church the “synagogue of Satan” (Rev. 3:9) is very much alive. The “church of Satan” inside “the Church of Christ” may very well be existing incognito because of this so-called depths of the devil.
THE SMALL PASTOR 