From the beginning of time the devil has spent all of his energies fighting against the government of God. While it didn’t ‘appear’ to be fighting at the beginning it is clear to see it has now blown out to a ‘all or nothing’ fight for dominion and for us a fight for life. We as christians know we have a beautiful Saviour who fights in our corner and keeps the devil at bay. But not everyone knows this, and very few, even of christians know exactly how the devil works.
Keeping in mind our beautiful Saviour I would like to unmask the devil and show you how his devious, scheming mind works and how he entraps you in his snares. So keep your hat on we are going for the ride of our lives.
First and foremost we need to point out that the devil lost the war in heaven:-
Revelation 12:7 “And there was war in heaven: Michael and his angels fought against the dragon; and the dragon fought and his angels…”
Revelation 12:9 “And the great dragon was cast out, that old serpent, called the devil, and Satan, which deceiveth the whole world: he was cast out into the earth, and his angels were cast out with him.”
Jesus is the conqueror, Jesus is the King and Jesus and Jesus alone can and will defeat the devil, Jesus will fight for you, so while this document is going to be frightening and a eye opener, Jesus is by our side.
Let’s start with the Bible chapters Mathew, Mark, Luke and John. In these Gospels we can see clearly how the devil dogged Jesus’ footsteps tormenting, tempting, turning the public against Him and finally murdering Him.
Matthew Chapter 2:- Satan moves upon King Herod to kill the babe Jesus.
Luke Chapter 4:- The temptation in the wilderness.
Matthew Chapter 9:- The Pharisees and Sadducees inspired by Satan constantly dogged Jesus’ footsteps.
John Chapter 18-20:- The crucifixion of Jesus. Satan’s ultimate act of betrayal.
These verses are but a few of the many examples in the Bible, but it’s clear to see the devil and Jesus did not see eye to eye. As I have outlined throughout a few of these documents there is a massive difference between the two governments. Let’s take a few excerpts from the document ‘Why Me, Why choose Jesus?’ to see the difference in the governments.
Government principles of Jesus:-
Exodus 34:6 “…The Lord, The Lord God, merciful and gracious, longsuffering, and abundant in goodness and truth.”
Isaiah 9:6 “… the government shall be upon his shoulder: and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counsellor, The mighty God, The everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace.”
Government principles of Satan:-
1st Peter 5:8 “…your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour:…”
Ephesians 6:11 “…wiles of the devil…”
Ephesians 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…”
It’s clear to see whose side is best. Jesus offers us His all, life, happiness, love, compassion, forgiveness and tender mercy. The devil only has death to offer, so it’s a no brainer Jesus is the best. But let’s delve deep into the wiles of Satan because believe me, he wasn’t called the master of deceit for nothing.
John 8:44 “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.”
The devil knows he can only gain his subjects by deceit. If he showed himself as he really is (as we saw above) no-one would follow him, even in heaven he had to use deceit to obtain a following. But let’s have a look at where this ‘deceit’ has taken him and what it means to us today. Nobody looking into a dark hole would deliberately jump in, there could be any measure of dangers in the deep darkness of that hole. But what if they were ‘tricked’, voices in the head? Feelings of safety? Satan using deceit luring them to their doom.
See my friends, it’s like this, Satan knows his time on earth is short. Soon the fires of affliction will burn, the devil’s reign is over and he has no-one to blame but himself. Satan cast himself against Jesus and lost. Jesus will return to claim His rightful place on the throne and the devil’s dominion is over. Punishment follows and the devil, his angels and his followers will be forever destroyed. Now this is how it works, if you’re a follower of Christ you are covered by the blood of Jesus (by His death on the cross). If you have firmly turned your back on Jesus you are on Satan’s ground and will share in his punishment. So it stands to reason the devil wants as many people on his side as possible, he wants all to suffer with him and he will go to any measures necessary to secure their doom.
The Bible verse:-
1st Peter 5:8 “Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour:…”
is one of the most relevant here. The devil is out to devour us hence the warning in Ephesians to gird ourselves with the whole armour of God and stand ever on guard.
Ephesians 6:11-18 “Put on the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil. 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. Wherefore take unto you the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand. Stand therefore, having your loins girt about with truth, and having on the breastplate of righteousness; your feet shod with the preparation of the gospel of peace; Above all, taking the shield of faith, wherewith ye shall be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked. 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,…”
So, keeping in mind we have a powerful Saviour by our side, and why the devil is bent on revenge, let’s proceed and unmask his wily schemes.
Number 1/ What was the very first lie Satan tempted us with? Eve, in the garden of Eden, when presented with the forbidden fruit was told of the serpent (the devil) “thou shalt not die”. (Genesis 3:4 “And the serpent said unto the woman, Ye shall not surely die…”) How many times has the devil repeated this lie? Direct contradiction to heaven’s directions, time and time again. The most obvious contradiction is in the Gospels when Satan tempted Jesus in the wilderness. Satan was contradicting the law of God. With each temptation Satan was tempting Jesus to disbelieve the word of God. Another example of the direct contradictions of the devil can be found in 1st Kings Chapter 13. The prophet of God had been straightly warned not to tarry at all, but disobeyed, tempted by a messenger of Satan and lost his life as a result.
The devil is always contradicting Jesus. That has been his purpose from the beginning and as we move down the time line we can see how he has perfected his plans against Jesus and against Jesus’ followers.
The title of this document is ‘Dancing With The Devil’ and I don’t believe how many people are really ‘dancing with the devil’ without knowing it! Let’s take a closer look at temptation and what’s involved. Firstly we all acknowledge the presence of angels, good and bad. Heaven’s messengers offer comfort, protection and guidance. Satan’s messengers offer trouble, destruction and death. Both sides have their method of communication, Jesus’ ministering angels are calm, quiet and gentle whereas Satan’s angels are loud, coarse and demanding. Jesus never uses force but the devil does, the devil pushes evil upon you to the point where you fear you must die, very cruel master, very cruel. Once you have fallen into his snare he changes tactics, becoming very patronising, telling you that as you are now in this condition there is no way for you to escape, lies, all lies. But in your troubled state can you see it’s the devil tormenting you? Can you hear him taunting you? Jesus would never treat anyone this way whether they are good or bad. Let’s go deeper.
While you are dicing with death, tossing up whether or not you will fall prey to the temptation you are actually ‘dancing with the devil’. You step one way, he follows, like two dancers on stage, mirroring each others moves. The devil will follow you along the dance floor until he succeeds or you tell him where to go. But let’s look behind the scenes, let’s say for example you have fallen prey to his temptations. The devil rejoices but doesn’t stop there, he now puts all his efforts into keeping you in his web of deceit. Let’s use the scenario of the family, disagreements have blown out into a full-on war assault, mother, father, children all arguing fiercely. We push the pause button and freeze the picture, look around, what do you see? Yes, a very unhappy family, but look closer and you will see who is really pushing the buttons. Yes friend, it’s the devil and his angels, they are in the thick of it. Like actors on stage the devil’s angels act out every scenario, they are behind each family member, even the dog. They scream obscenities into each member’s ears, they have a response for each family member. These evil angels know their prey intimately and each angel is behind their particular person ‘target’, they know what triggers their passions and use it against them in the fight. In this family tussle the members are actually fighting with the words the evil angels have implanted in their ears, they are not fighting each other, they are in reality fighting with the angels. It’s Satan’s angels telling them what to say, how to react, it’s Satan controlling the scene. These angels are using the family members emotions and passions against them and the family member perceives it not, they believe they are being ‘hard done by’ and life is unfair. If you took the devil and his entourage out of the picture the argument would be settled quietly and peacefully. So hit the play button and next time you find yourself fighting with someone stop, think, you now know there is a evil angel prompting the person you are angry with, there is also another evil angel in your own ear. Pray for wisdom and Jesus will come to your aid.
Let’s look at another scenario. You are on your own, lonely, discouraged and the temptation comes to dream your way into a ‘happier’ place. But beware it’s the devil you are dancing with. This ‘happier’ place, whatever your dream may be, is in fact another of the devil’s ‘plays’. Whatever you are dreaming about you think are your own imaginations – Beware friend, beware – they are not your own imaginings. They are inspirations of the devil. The devil and his angels that dog us know us intimately, they know what we like and dislike. They know what ‘turns us on’ so it is very easy for them to create, yes I said create, a ‘dream’ personal to us. So while you are laying in bed, sitting in your comfy chair or going about your daily business Satan and his angels are tempting you to ‘dream up a storm’. Yes it’s true you are down at the moment but please friend turn to Jesus, turn to truth and light, Jesus will comfort and strengthen you. So let’s push the pause button on this scenario, you have given in and you don’t realise they are not your imaginations, you are ‘happily’ dreaming away. With the picture on pause we can take a peek behind the scene. You are sitting in a theatre, lift the curtain friend, there onstage are your imaginations, playing out like a cabaret. Oh friend, the evil angels are acting out your exact scene, each person, each animal, is a actor, an evil angel. They talk, interact exactly as you have dreamed. This nightmare is not of your origin, it is inspired and acted out by Satan’s angels, you are in fact playing with the devil and his angels. But it doesn’t end there, the play they are acting out is interactive, yes friend, you are the main actor, you are deep in the plot and the evil angels will do everything in their power to keep you there. They increase the intensity of the play till you are so absorbed you don’t notice the time passing, they hold you in their power till your life becomes all absorbed in the dream and daily duties become a nuisance. Upon returning from the dream to everyday living you find yourself more dissatisfied than before and long for the moment when you can block out living and dream your life away. It becomes harder and harder to block the dreams and focus on life, your original loneliness and discouragement has now blown way out of proportion and the devil keeps inviting you back into the world of imaginations. The devil and his angels keep changing the play till you are dissatisfied with life itself, it’s at this point when you are at your lowest, the devil comes in with his temptations to ‘end it all’ “life isn’t worth living so why not finish yourself off”. The devil never says it as it is, all this is played out on the stage and acted in a way to keep you spellbound. Unless you pull aside the curtain you will never see the devil in the detail. Let’s hit the play button, yes you are down but please friend, don’t turn to your imaginations to ‘fix’ things, you are dancing a dangerous dance with the devil. Turn instead to Jesus friend, He will impart the required comfort, strength and protection. If you have fallen prey to the devil never despair Jesus is always on hand to pull you out of the pit of despair. Jesus loves us dearly and all we have to do is ask Him for help and as He is always by our side He will save us immediately.
These are but a few examples, there are many scenarios where the devil is in the detail, but trust me friend, whenever you are in trouble, whatever your poison, remember the devil and his angels do know you and they use their knowledge against you. Be vigilant against the wiles of Satan, recognise the devil in the detail, know you are dancing with the devil and most importantly remember we have a friend in Jesus. Jesus died on the cross for the salvation of us all, yes my friend, he died for you. There is a place in heaven for all of us, so close the curtain on the stage and walk away, you don’t need to dance with the devil with Jesus by your side.
Let’s finish with a allegory to help us get the full picture.
Two boys are walking together along a lone dusty road. It’s getting late and they both desire to turn in for the night. Coming upon a clearing they find a theatre has been set up offering all manner of entertainment. Both boys enter the grounds and start to look around. It’s dark now and the valley where the theatre has set up camp has been lit up by gaudy lights. Entranced they walk from one display to another, each one beckoning them in, each one more exciting than the previous one. As the boys wander round entranced, they notice a old man, shabbily dressed, watching them with a keen eye. They pay him no mind and finally stop in front of the most exciting display of the entire valley. There is a gaily dressed person at the door urging them to come in, the ‘show’ he says is free, you only have to come in and take a seat. Time beckons you (the boys) to move on and go home, your families are waiting, but the doorman seeing your hesitation urges you more forcefully to enter the tent, “you can leave at any time” he argues. At this stage the old man previously watching the boys approaches, there is a conflict between the doorman and the old man, they obviously know each other and clearly don’t get along. The old man puts a tender hand on each boy and urges them to move on, “it’s dangerous” is his argument, “it’s a snare, please don’t stop, please don’t go in” is his admonishment. The boys are young, experience is not on their side and the lure of excitement is strong. Ignoring the old man’s pleas and to the obvious glee of the doorman the boys enter the theatre and find seats. At the beginning the show is exciting and entertaining but as they look closer each boy realises all is not as it seems, they are sitting together but they are watching seperate shows. Each boy looks closer at the stage and realises they themselves are on stage, they are the main actors and the show is their wildest fantasy. They both relax and throw themselves into the ‘enjoyment’ of the show, each part being tailored to their individual desires. Time passes, the boys become more and more deeply involved, people move around them but they hardly notice. Then both boys feel a hand on their arms, it’s the old man, he urges them to come with him and taking them by the hand leads them to the back of the theatre. Once backstage the old man lifts the curtain and to the boys horror they see the actors they were just engaging with are in fact puppets on a string. On closer examination the boys trace the strings to the control box where to their consternation they see the devil at the controls. Looking down on the stage they themselves were just playing on they see the ‘puppets’ are in fact the devil’s angels. It’s a trap, and has been so from the beginning, the devil and his scheming angels have been playing with them the whole time. In their shame the boys are confused and distressed, they see the door out only opens one way and while it was easy to get in they now cannot get out. The old man urges them to follow him, he knows a way out, but something is holding them, they are riveted to the stage. The old man is becoming more insistent urging the boys to leave and it is here the fight begins. One boy sees the commonsense of the old man and desires to leave, the other boy is drawn to the cabaret. He knows who is pulling the puppet strings, he now knows he is ‘dancing with the devil’, but his desire to stay and play is stronger than his desire to leave. His friend is heartbroken and regrets the day they ever passed this way, but his friend has turned his back on him and returned to the theatre. He now has to make his own decision, should he stay with his friend and try to reason with him or should he just leave? The old man notices his indecision and asks the boy to wait where he is. The boy watches as the old man re-enters the theatre and sits next to his friend. The old man urges the boy to leave over and over again, but the boy, now fully entranced by the show, perceives not the old man’s pleas. The old man’s pleas are in vain, the boy watching the show doesn’t even realise the old man is there. The old man cries many tears then arises and goes back to the other boy still waiting backstage of the theatre. Taking this boy by the hand the old man leads him out via the back door. Just when the boy finally thinks he is about to be free, oh horror, there at the back door stands the doorman from the front door. A argument ensues, both the doorman and the old man claim the boy as property of their own. The doorman claims the boy entered the theatre of his own choice and now cannot leave, while the old man claims the boy was tricked and has a desire to leave. The battle is fierce and the boy is pulled from pillar to post, the anguish of his soul is crushing him. He knows it is by his sin he is now in the tug of war, he knows he has been dancing with the devil and with bitter tears he pleads for mercy and release. The old man suddenly lifts up his two hands and to the boy’s surprise he clearly sees in the palm of the old man’s hands, nail scars. The old man says, “enough, this child is mine, by My blood he is saved”, light floods the scene and the doorman and the old man stand unmasked. The boy hides his face in horror and shame, the doorman is the devil and the old man is Jesus. The doorman beats a hasty retreat, he knows he has lost, but the old man now reveals his true character – Jesus. Jesus was with the boys from the beginning, in the guise of a old man Jesus tried to prevent them from entering the theatre in the first place and it was Jesus who led them out. Having seen the light the boy is now more determined than ever to retrieve his friend and get home. Blocking his eyes and ears to the show the boy goes back in and tries to get the attention of his friend but to no avail. His friend has surrendered to the show and has no recollection of his friend or even of his former life. The old man (Jesus) is urging the boy to leave, the longer he lingers the more dangerous is his position, the devil has already tricked him into staying once, there is a danger he can be tricked again. Following his Saviour the boy allows himself to be led out. Again at the back door the doorman (the devil) and the old man (Jesus) meet. This time there is no conflict, the doorman knows he has lost. Tenderly the old man (Jesus) leads the boy home, home to the safety of the fold. The boy mourns the loss of his friend but is grateful to the old man. Turning to face the old man and with tears in his eyes he thanks the old man for bringing him home and urges him to stay. The old man (Jesus) raises His hands in blessing and promises the boy He will always be with him, then He turns to leave. The boy is afraid and pleads with him to stay, but the old man gently assures the boy, comfort, guidance, strength will always be with him. Jesus Himself will always have His eyes and tender hand over the boy, did He not just lead him out of temptation? He will never desert this precious charge of His, and He commissions His angels to always be at the side of the boy. The boy understands, help will always be within reach but he still questions why the old man must go. The old man (Jesus) raises His battle scared hands and with a voice full of emotion quietly says, “my child, I saw you before you entered the theatre and urged you not to go in, I sat by you throughout your ordeal and persuaded you to leave. I fought the devil for you and saved you by my blood. You may be free my friend but others are not, I am returning to save them”.
My friend, no matter what kind of strife we are in Jesus is always by our side. We may not see Him, like the old man in the allegory He may be in disguise, but trust me my friend, Jesus is always with us. Jesus will fight the devil for us and it is by Jesus’ stripes we are saved. Friend, it doesn’t matter how deep into the ‘picture’ you have fallen, Jesus can and will lead you out of the theatre and lead you home. Please friend, put your hand in Jesus’ hand today and allow Jesus to carry you home.
Amen