The Devil’s Satanic Deception Against the World

What are Satan’s strategies against the world? What are some of the devil’s satanic deceptions?

The entire world has a spiritual enemy. This enemy hates all of God’s creation, especially humanity. This enemy is known by many names eg. satan (Matthew 4:10), the devil (Ephesians 4:26-27), Lucifer (Isaiah 14:12), the serpent (2 Corinthians 11:3) and many others.

Ephesians 6:12 says: For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places.

It does not matter if you’re an atheist, Christian, Muslim, agnostic, young or old – the devil hates the entire human race and he is constantly working to destroy humanity in every possible way.

Ephesians 6:11 says we must “put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the schemes of the devil.”

One of the methods or schemes of the devil is that he uses the art of deception to deceive the world.

 

Below are 7 ways the devil deceives the world

1. The devil deceives people into believing that he does not exist
It is said the greatest trick the devil ever did was to make people believe that he does not exist. However the Bible clearly reveals that mankind has a spiritual enemy whose goal is to kill, steal and destroy.
The devil is a real spiritual person who thinks and has a personality. The devil is not just an evil principle or a concept. The Bible acknowledges the existence of the devil.

In the beginning, the devil tempted Adam and Eve into disobeying God in the Garden of Eden (Genesis 3:1-24).

In Job 1:6-12 we see Satan have a personal conversation with God about Job’s life.

In Matthew 4:1-11 the devil speaks to Jesus in order to tempt Christ.

Therefore the devil is real. Satan is a person who communicates because he is real and actively deceiving mankind around the world.

 

2. The devil deceives by transforming into an angel of light
When we think of the devil, we tend to mostly think of a big red ugly monster with horns, a pitch fork and a tail.
However the Bible warns us that the devil is a master of disguise. 2 Corinthians 11:14 says: And no wonder, for even Satan disguises himself as an angel of light.

Satan’s original state before he rebelled against God was that of a beautiful and powerful angel (Ezekiel 28:11-19). Therefore the devil is capable of imitating and counterfeiting beautiful things.

The reason why sin is appealing to people is because the devil can disguise sin into something that looks beautiful but yet is detrimental in the future. The devil can disguise sin as being pleasurable and good but yet sin is evil and spiritually dangerous.

Therefore when the devil tempts us, he does not appear like an enemy in opposition, but he can appear as if he were a friend or helper attempting to help.
For example in Genesis 3:1-7 the devil pretended to help Eve acquire hidden knowledge or to help open Eve’s eyes.

 

3. The devil deceives by creating false cultures and doctrines
The devil will create any false ideology, doctrine, culture or system that opposes both God and Biblical teaching. For example ideologies and doctrines such as atheism, new age, LGBTQ ideology, pantheism, occultism and many more are belief systems that originate from a spiritual rebellious source.

The Bible speaks about “doctrines of demons” or ideologies that have a demonic origin.
1 Timothy 4:1 says: Now the Spirit expressly says that in latter times some will depart from the faith, giving heed to deceiving spirits and doctrines of demons

The Bible warns us to no longer be children, tossed to and fro by the waves and carried about by every wind of doctrine, by human cunning, by craftiness in deceitful schemes (Ephesians 4:14)

Therefore we must be cognisant of the fact that satan creates many false teachings and belief systems in order to attack Biblical truth and godly living. However, it is only through Scripture and obedience to the inspired word of God that we can understand the mind of God on every human topic or issue in this world

2 Timothy 3:16-17 says: All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, 17 that the man of God may be competent, equipped for every good work.

 

4. The devil deceives by influencing false teachers to do his bidding
The devil has false teachers who preach his false doctrines. The devil has wolves in sheep’s clothing who attempt to deceive the masses for all kinds of reasons.

2 Corinthians 11:13-15 says: For such men are false apostles, deceitful workmen, disguising themselves as apostles of Christ. 14 And no wonder, for even Satan disguises himself as an angel of light. 15 So it is no surprise if his servants, also, disguise themselves as servants of righteousness. Their end will correspond to their deeds.

1 John 4:1 says: Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God, for many false prophets have gone out into the world.

Therefore the devil is clearly at work by using various kinds of false teachers to deceive the world with many false philosophies and ideologies. However, the Bible warns us not to adhere to any philosophies or teachings that oppose Jesus Christ.

Colossians 2:8 says: See to it that no one takes you captive by philosophy and empty deceit, according to human tradition, according to the elemental spirits of the world, and not according to Christ.

 

5. The devil deceives by causing spiritual blindness
Even though we may have eyes that physically see, the Bible teaches that people can become spiritually blind so that they do not understand the things of God.
The Scriptures reveal that the devil is spiritually blinding many people from understanding the Gospel of Jesus Christ so that they may have eternal life.

Part of this spiritual blindness arises when people believe in false gospels and false doctrines instead of believing in the true gospel of Jesus Christ and His finished work on the Cross.

2 Corinthians 4:4 says: In their case the god of this world 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.

The devil ultimately wants unsaved people to enter hell. Therefore the devil is doing anything with the aim of preventing people from hearing and believing the Gospel so that they may have a genuine and saving relationship with Jesus Christ.

 

6. The devil deceives people through false miracles or signs and wonders
In Matthew 24:24 Jesus says “For false christs and false prophets will arise and perform great signs and wonders, so as to lead astray, if possible, even the elect.”

So Satan performs signs and wonders in order to lead people astray or lead them away from God. Satan’s signs and wonders can take the form of witchcraft, divination, sorcery, magic or any type of occultism.

The devil is also able to give people false visions and false dreams in order to deceive many.

In the Bible when Moses performed miracles under the power and instruction of God, we notice that Pharaoh’s sorcerers and magicians imitated some of God’s miracles. However the power that was sourced by Pharaoh’s magicians came from satan (Exodus 7:14-11:10).

There is a reason why God forbids us from engaging in activities such as divination, sorcery and new age practices. It is because such activities are ultimately satanic and will prevent us from knowing God and being set free by the truth of His word.

 

7. The devil deceives people into believing his lies
The devil is the ultimate epitome of wickedness and evil. Satan is a persona who’s entire fabric and being and motive is nothing but lies and deceit. There is absolutely no fabric of goodness in the devil.

In John 8:44, Jesus describes the devil as being “a murderer from the beginning” and that the devil has “nothing to do with the truth, because there is no truth in him”.
Jesus also describes the devil as “the father of lies” and that when the devil lies “he speaks out of his own character”.

So the devil is a deceiver. The devil uses temptation and the use of false promises within those temptations to lie and deceive humanity.

Adam & Eve’s temptation contained a lie or false promise. The devil tempted Adam and Eve into believing that they would become like God if they ate the forbidden fruit.
In our own individual life we must never believe the lies of the devil. We must ignore every wind of doctrine that opposes the Gospel of Jesus Christ. We must beware of false teachers. We must put on the whole armour of God and stand against the schemes of the devil.