The following excerpt is taken from What Every Christian Should Know About Satan. Order your copy in print, Kindle, or Audible versions here.

---

The Book of Revelation identifies Satan as “the deceiver,” or “the one who leads astray” (ho planon; see Rev. 12:9; 20:10; cf. 20:3, 8). The idea behind this term is to entice someone to wander, like the sheep in Jesus’ parable (Matt. 18:12-13) or the saints of old forced to wander through a world not worthy of them (Heb. 11:38). As Peter Bolt writes, “The title ‘deceiver’ reflects Satan’s endeavors to lead people away from the love and security of our holy God.

Satan’s role as deceiver is grounded in his character as the father of lies (John 8:44; see Chapter 5). His nature – his every tendency – is to distort the truth so that people made as God’s imagers miss the very purpose for which God designed them. But how, exactly, does the evil one accomplish this? He sports a quiver of fiery darts and launches them strategically. Let’s briefly examine eight arrows the evil one hurls to deceive us.

1. The well-placed question. We see this in the garden of Eden, where the serpent challenges Eve’s understanding of God’s clear command not to eat of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil: “Did God really say, ‘You can’t eat from any tree in the garden’?” (Gen. 3:1). This question subtly misquotes God – who made every tree in the garden available to Adam and Eve, except one – and leads Eve to wonder about God’s transparency. Did the Lord speak too hastily? Overstate his intentions? Or maybe try to keep Adam and Eve from enjoying the one thing that would truly make them God’s imagers?

We see the well-placed question in contemporary society. How often do we hear these questions: Doesn’t God just want me to be happy? Is Jesus really the only way to eternal life? How can my desires be wrong since God made me this way? Hasn’t society advanced beyond outdated biblical commands? Why shouldn’t I live my truth and let other people live theirs? And on it goes. 

Often, the first step to wandering away from God is questioning his word. When Eve allows herself to question the Lord, she ends up fallen and then banished. 

As Jared Wilson writes: “The trap is subtle. What Satan continues to do today is what he originally did in the garden: substituting a version of rival facts in place of the real thing. Every sinful decision you and I make begins with the satanic question, ‘Did God really say …?'”

2. The outright lie. Jesus makes it clear that Satan “does not stand in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he tells a lie, he speaks from his own nature, because he is a liar and the father of lies” (John 8:44). After his well-placed question to Eve, the serpent slings his barefaced lie: “No! You will not die” (Gen. 3:4). 

When told forcefully and often enough, a lie may become an acquired truth. An unborn child becomes an expendable blob of tissue. The aged and infirm become pitiable objects of euthanizing in the name of “quality of life.” Gender becomes fluid. The covenant of marriage becomes an open-ended agreement. And sexual immorality becomes a liberating right that all enlightened people must celebrate. The outright lie shocks us at first. But over time, we become desensitized and, finally, accepting. The evil one wields blunt-force lies to wear us down.

3. The blinded mind. This is especially true with regard to unbelievers, about whom Paul writes: “But if our gospel is veiled, it is veiled to those who are perishing. In their case, the god of this age has blinded the minds of the unbelievers to keep them from seeing the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God” (2 Cor. 4:3-4). 

Jesus describes this tactic in the parable of the sower. Like birds who swoop down to pluck seeds from a footpath, Satan snatches the word of God’s kingdom from unbelievers’ hearts before the truth can take hold (Matt. 13:1-9, 18-23). 

As John Piper notes, Satan “not only speaks what is false. He hides what is true. He keeps us from seeing the treasure of the gospel. He lets us see facts, even proofs, but not preciousness.”

While the evil one keeps unbelievers in the dark, he also strives to obscure our thinking. In this way, we fail to be effective witnesses for Christ. For example, Paul’s letter to the Galatians shows how Satan uses false teachers in the church to enslave Christians in a counterfeit works-based form of salvation. He expresses amazement that the Galatians have turned so quickly to “a different gospel” (Gal. 1:6). He uses harsh words to shock them out of their stupor: “You foolish Galatians! Who has cast a spell on you …?” (3:1). 

Further, Paul calls the Galatians to return to the true gospel of salvation by grace (5:1-6). He reminds them that they were running well, but then wonders, “Who prevented you from being persuaded regarding the truth?” (5:7). And he assures them, “But whoever it is that is confusing you will pay the penalty” (5:10). Followers of Jesus must always be on guard against satanically inspired thinking. Indeed, we must “take every thought captive to obey Christ” (2 Cor. 10:5).

4. The masquerade. Writing to the Corinthians, Paul must embrace the “foolishness” of defending his apostleship in light of the “super apostles” who have infiltrated the church (2 Cor. 11:1, 5). These “false apostles” and “deceitful workers,” who disguise themselves as apostles of Christ, proclaim “another Jesus,” “a different spirit,” and “a different gospel” (11:4, 13). 

Paul writes that such attacks on the body of Christ should not shock us: “And no wonder! For Satan disguises himself as an angel of light. So it is no great surprise if his servants also disguise themselves as servants of righteousness. Their end will be according to their works” (11:14-15). 

Just as the evil one masquerades as the good guy, false teachers ride the Trojan Horse of eloquent persuasion to gain entrance into the church, and then proceed to destroy it. Satan employs not only evil spirits to do his bidding, but willing unbelievers. Professing themselves to be Christians, they weasel their way into unsuspecting churches and, from the inside, teach what Paul describes as “teachings of demons” (1 Tim. 4:1). Jesus also warns about these false prophets, likening them to ravaging wolves in sheep’s clothing (Matt. 7:15). 

In his farewell address to the Ephesian elders, Paul urges them to vigilance against false teachers: “I know that after my departure savage wolves will come in among you, not sparing the flock. Men will rise up even from your own number and distort the truth to lure the disciples into following them” (Acts 20:29-30). Discernment is key to identifying and countering these minions of the evil one (Phil. 1:9). 

5. Lying signs and wonders. Paul describes the last days with these words: “The coming of the lawless one is based on Satan’s working, with every kind of miracle, both signs and wonders serving the lie, and with every wicked deception among those who are perishing …” (2 Thess. 2:9-10). 

Jesus also addresses this subject in the Olivet Discourse: “For false messiahs and false prophets will arise and perform great signs and wonders to lead astray, if possible, even the elect” (Matt. 24:24). 

At final judgment, some unbelievers protest Christ’s sentence of hell, arguing, “Lord, Lord, didn’t we prophesy in your name, drive out demons in your name, and do many miracles in your name?” Unmoved, Jesus responds, “I never knew you. Depart from me, you lawbreakers!” (Matt. 7:22-23).

There’s little doubt Satan and his servants use miracles to deceive people – including Christians. Bible commentators disagree as to whether Satan, demons, and false prophets actually perform miracles or merely produce highly persuasive counterfeits. Those who argue in favor of genuine miracles acknowledge that Satan operates under the sovereignty of God and is prohibited from performing such divine acts as raising the dead. Even so, God has granted the devil great leeway as a mighty spirit being, and the evil one may use his powers at will.

Other commentators challenge this view, arguing that the Lord only grants true miracles to his servants to demonstrate God has sent them. That’s why we tend to see miracles confined to prophets such as Moses and Elijah, to Jesus, and to the apostles; the signs and wonders are authenticating works (cf. Exod. 4:1-9; Heb. 2:1-4). R. C. Sproul writes, “If the devil could perform miracles, he would be a teacher from the Lord. He can perform lying signs and wonders, but not true miracles, for he is not a teacher from God.”

Whether Satan and his servants perform true miracles, or cunning slight-of-hand tricks, the purpose behind these lying signs and wonders is the same: to lead people astray. That’s one reason the apostle John urges us not to believe “every spirit” – that is, every person who claims divine gifting for service. Rather, we are to “test the spirits” to see if they are from God (1 John 4:1). 

Those who confess biblical truth about the person and work of Christ may be trusted. Those who deny the full deity and full humanity of Jesus – like first-century Docetics, who claimed Jesus only appeared to be human – are to be rejected. As one commentary puts it: “Any time we are in doubt, we are to make sure that what is being taught lines up with what Scripture says. If the miracle worker is teaching something contrary to God’s Word, then his miracles, no matter how convincing they seem, are a demonic delusion.”

6. Enticement. The previous chapter was devoted to Satan as the tempter. As we saw,  he is a most persuasive antagonist. He is not omniscient, but he is a highly skilled observer who discovers our human frailties and sinful vulnerabilities – and exploits them all. He strikes hard and low at Jesus in the wilderness, although he fails to entice the Son of God to abandon the path of suffering and death (Matt. 4:1-11). He proves more successful in his pursuit of Judas Iscariot in the hours leading up to the apostle’s betrayal of Jesus (Luke 22:3-6). 

Paul worries aloud for the Corinthians, admitting, “But I fear that, as the serpent deceived Eve by his cunning, your minds may be seduced from a sincere and pure devotion to Christ” (2 Cor. 11:3). Sure enough, the local church Paul had planted in Corinth a few years earlier is now embracing false teachings about Jesus, the Holy Spirit, and the gospel (2 Cor. 11:4). 

James warns how subtly and pervasively sin overtakes us. God cannot be tempted to sin, and he never tempts us. But the evil one sows seeds in our thought processes and – unless we immediately take these thoughts captive – we start down a slippery slope that ends in sin: “But each person is tempted when he is drawn away and enticed by his own evil desire. Then after desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin, and when sin is fully grown, it gives birth to death” (Jas. 1:14-15).

7. Accusation. In the first recorded encounter with humans, the evil one accuses God of denying Adam and Eve what’s rightfully theirs: to become like God (Gen. 3:5). We see Satan again in the Book of Job, alleging that Job’s loyalty to Yahweh hinges on the hedge of safety God has built around his servant (Job 1:9-11). When the Lord allows Satan to kill Job’s children and destroy his property, Job maintains his integrity. 

So, Satan returns to Yahweh to seek permission to strike Job’s flesh and bones, certain that Job will curse God to his face (Job 2:5). Job endures painful sores from head to toe, along with self-righteous moralizing from his friends, before experiencing a humbling encounter with God, who restores Job’s wealth two-fold and grants him seven sons and three daughters – a number equal to those who had perished.

Satan appears again in Zechariah 3 to accuse the high priest, Joshua. This time, the angel of the LORD comes to the rescue, rebuking Satan, forgiving Joshua’s sin, and clothing the high priest in fresh garments.

The evil one’s accusations continue today. His ultimate defeat is certain, however, and his days of finger-pointing are numbered. In Revelation 12:10, the apostle John writes: “Then I heard a loud voice in heaven say, The salvation and the power and the kingdom of our God and the authority of his Christ have now come, because the accuser of our brothers and sisters, who accuses them before our God day and night, has been thrown down.” 

Until that day, the evil one continues prosecuting the people of God. But, just as the high priest, Joshua, had an advocate – the angel of the LORD, or the preincarnate Christ – so we have an advocate, the Lord Jesus, who “is able to save completely those who come to God through him, since he always lives to intercede for them” (Heb. 7:25).

8. Institutional leverage. Satan leads the world astray through false religions, as well as cultural, political, and economic institutions (cf. Rev. 13). For example, major world religions like Islam, Hinduism, and Buddhism express a high regard for Jesus. Yet their Jesus is strictly human, or mysteriously divine, and totally unable to address mankind’s greatest need of redemption. Even more damaging are today’s counterfeit forms of Christianity, most notably the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (Mormonism) and the Watchtower Bible and Tract Society (Jehovah’s Witnesses). 

In the former, Jesus is the first eternally existing intelligence to be born into the premortal spirit realm via sexual relations between Elohim (the god of this world) and a heavenly mother. After taking on flesh in mortal probation, Jesus dies on the cross and rises from the dead to reclaim the immortality Adam lost in the garden, thus making it possible for all humans to attain divinity. 

In the latter, Jehovah’s Witnesses grant Jesus the status of “mighty god,” a created archangel who later is refashioned as Jesus the man. Then, after dying on a first-century torture stake to pay for Adam’s sin (but not ours), he is spiritually reborn as an exalted archangel. 

While there is no reason to question the sincerity of Latter-day Saints and Jehovah’s Witnesses, it’s clear they proclaim “another Jesus” (2 Cor. 11:4). And their hierarchical organizations enslave millions around the world with the shackles of works-based salvation. The LDS Church claims to be restored Christianity and thus the only true path to salvation. Meanwhile, the Watchtower claims its Governing Body to be God’s “faithful and discreet slave” (Matt. 24:45-47), which alone dispenses spiritual food on earth.

Both institutions make exclusive claims, yet neither biblically acknowledges Jesus as “the way, the truth, and the life” (John 14:6).

Satan: The consummate schemer