This article is about the attacks believers suffer at the hands of the devil through his lies and deceptions. Many people have succumbed to these weapons of the devil because they forgot that satan is the father or manufacturer of all lies, and that he operates mainly through lies and deception. May you be set free from the devil’s lies and deceptions, as you read!
The devil is a liar (John 8:44); and lying and deception are at the foundations of the devil’s attack against us. The Scriptures do not say much about the direct words of Satan even though we read a lot about his acts, his sins and the manifestations of his wickedness. There are probably a few instances where the words of Satan are recorded in the Bible, but the two instances that quickly come to mind are during his encounter with Eve in the Garden of Eden and his interactions with Jesus Christ in the wilderness.
What Satan said to Eve in the Garden of Eden
Satan appeared to man the first time at the beginning of all things in a bid to frustrate God’s plan for mankind. Satan demonstrated his hatred for the people that God had created; he did not want man to experience the great love and blessings of God; he knew the only thing that could separate man from God and make us miss the Father’s love was sin; and he succeeded in getting man to sin through the weapon of lies. Lying is the devil’s greatest weapon.
Genesis 3:1
Now the serpent was more cunning than any beast of the field which the Lord God had made. And he said to the woman, ‘has God indeed said, ‘You shall not eat of every tree of the garden?
By asking Eve if God had actually said they should not eat of every tree of the garden, Satan was challenging Eve to dare God and eat the fruit of the tree. He told Eve that God did not really mean it when he gave that instruction. That was a lie and a deception from the devil. Satan lied and deceived man right at the beginning of time, and he has not changed his tactics.
In Genesis 3:4, the devil told Eve they will not surely die if they ate the fruit, but that was another lie. Unfortunately, Eve and Adam did not know they were being deceived. In actual fact Adam and Eve died spiritually, and later on physically, when they obeyed the words of Satan. The devil has been lying and deceiving man since he won over man in the Garden. He has not stopped lying to us that we shall not suffer any consequences for our deliberate sins and evil practices. Always guard your mind against the lies and deceptions of the devil!
What Satan said to Jesus in the wilderness
Satan appeared to Jesus Christ when he was just about to begin his ministry of saving mankind from their sins. His purpose was still to ensure man forfeits God’s redemption, which was prompted by love. He sought to end Jesus’ ministry by attacking the Lord’s mind with his lies and deceptive words, even at the time when Jesus had just finished his forty-days fast. He won in the Garden of Eden but, thank God, he was defeated by Jesus in the wilderness.
Matthew 4:1-6
Then was Jesus led up by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil. And when He had fasted forty days and forty nights, afterward He was hungry. Now when the tempter came to Him, he said, “If you are the son of God, command that these stones become bread.” But he answered and said, “It is written, ‘Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God’. Then the devil took Him up into the holy city, set Him on the pinnacle of the temple, and said to Him, “If you are the Son of God, throw Yourself down. For it is written: ‘He shall give His angels charge over you’…
Satan’s words: “If you are the Son of God, command that these stones become bread”
When he said that, Satan’s goal was to cause Jesus to refocus his ministry and major on performing miracles to show off his power rather than concentrating on his mission of dying to save the world. Also he was trying to deceive Jesus to go ahead of God. Satan still uses the same approach of lies and deception on us. Many times he makes people think that the acquisition and enjoyment of worldly pleasures and earthly riches is all life is about. Many Christians have been lied to and deceived to disobey God and follow after worldly riches, thereby missing God’s purpose for their lives. Some have acquired material wealth only to realize how futile life can be when one is not rich towards God. Perhaps they would have enjoyed a more fulfilling life if they had not listened to the devil’s lies. Jesus responded correctly when he said that man shall not live by bread alone but by every word that proceeds out of the mouth of God. It is always better to wait for God’s instructions than to be in haste and follow the deceptions and lies of the devil.
Satan’s words: “If you are the Son of God, throw yourself down, for it is written: he shall give His angels charge over you”
Once again, Satan tried to deceive Jesus to tempt God to see if God would show his mercy and love for Jesus by saving him from the fall. Satan tried to push Jesus to obey his words by even quoting a Scripture. He tried to make Jesus to know if he threw himself down God would intervene and help Jesus so he would not be hurt. Satan tried but Jesus countered his words with the Scriptures.
The devil has not stopped using the same trick on believers. He comes to the believer and lies to him to “throw himself down” into sin; he makes a holy brother or sister to start thinking there is nothing wrong with sexual immorality (fornication, pornography, masturbating, etc), and if they fornicate, masturbate or watch pornography God will be merciful and forgive them. The devil will deceive the person by quoting scriptures like 1John 1:9 (“..if we confess our sin he is faithful and just to forgive us and cleanse us from all unrighteousness”). If the person does not rebuke the devil by quoting a counter scripture, like 1Corinthians 6:18-19 (“Flee sexual immorality….he who commits sexual immorality sins against his own body. Or do you not know that the body is the temple of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have from God, and you are not your own?), he would find himself accepting the lies and would eventually commit the sin. That is why believers must walk continually in the light of God’s word. This calls for daily study and meditation on the Scriptures. When we are full of the light of the word, we cannot be deceived by the devil to walk in the darkness of his deceptive lies and sins.
Don’t accept the devil’s lies
I must say that a number of believers have been grounded because of the lies of the devil. The Bible says lying is the devil’s native language.
JOHN 8:44
You are of your father the devil, and the desires of your father you want to do. He was a murderer from the beginning, and does not stand in the truth, because there is no truth in him. WHEN HE SPEAKS A LIE, HE SPEAKS FROM HIS OWN RESOURCES, FOR HE IS A LIAR AND THE FATHER OF IT.
For many people a lot of the things we think about are lies from the devil; anytime we are alone all by ourselves, and we allow our minds to wander it gives the devil the chance to lie to us. The guilt, the depressions, the sadness, the anxieties, worries and the fears we go through are as a result of the lies of the devil. The devil uses lies a lot to achieve his purpose of stealing, killing and destroying. If we understand the devil this way, and refuse his lies, we will experience true peace and victory in this life, just as Christ promised us.
Demons can put evil thoughts and lies in your mind, and they do that to everybody, powerful men of God and newly-born Christians alike, but that is how far they should go. They can only go further than that if you entertain the thoughts and enjoy them. I have always joked with my church that some believers are always happy to entertain the devil because they invite him into their homes, give him a seat and provide a bottle of coke for him to drink. If you entertain the lies of the devil, you have already invited demons into your life.
Use the truth to conquer the devil’s lies
To demolish demonic strongholds, you have to accept the fact that the foundation of the stronghold is the lies from the devil. The devil is the father of lies, and he seeks to attack our minds and destroy us with his lies. But we also have the Holy Spirit who is the Spirit of truth. The devil uses lies, but through the power of the Holy Spirit, we can use the truth of God’s word to destroy the lies of the devil. Every lie has a corresponding truth in the Scriptures. Since strongholds are a concentration of demonic lies and activities, we can pull down strongholds by praying with Scriptures that are contrary to the lies. God has an answer to all the lies of the devil; and there is no way demonic lies can overcome the truth. Truth will always triumph against lies. Jesus said the truth that we know shall set us free (John 8:32)
Demonic lies make people to oppose Godly things
People who oppose God and the things of God are under the influence of the lies of the devil.
2 CORINTHIANS 10:4-5
For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal but mighty in God for pulling down strongholds, casting down ARGUMENTS and every HIGH THING that exalts itself against the knowledge of God, bringing every THOUGHT into captivity to the obedience of Christ.
Paul was opposed by people who were under the influence of demonic lies. These accusers found it difficult to accept Paul’s message because their minds had been greatly corrupted by the lies of the devil. Paul refers to this high level of mental corruption as a stronghold. The manifestations of this demonic stronghold are the arguments, high things and thoughts that some people have. Arguments are reasoning and imaginations from people who have believed the devil’s lies and that has given them good reasons for doing the wrong things they do. They do not believe that they are wrong. A high thing refers to an elevated place or demonic barrier in the mind, leading to pride or a feeling of fulfilment. This makes some people to see nothing wrong with their entrenched positions.
Thoughts are perceptions, intellect, purposes and devices or evil plans that people have because of the lies of the devil.
Even though Paul may have been referring to some false teachers in this scripture, it is not only false teachers who are under such strongholds. If you have been in the ministry for some time, you will agree with me that many other church members are moving around with demonic thoughts and perceptions about many things. People who are under such strongholds are very difficult to work with in the ministry, because they do accept some truths, and always want to justify their evil stance. They brag about their knowledge of the scriptures and yet you can see they do not know God. Many of such people have problems with their pastors about some key doctrines like tithing or giving, loyalty, service and sacrifice because, somehow, their warped minds make them believe they can never be corrected. Years ago there was this Brother in the Lord who would sometimes argue over some Scriptures on Christian commitment and devotion to God, and say that those scriptures could not apply to modern day believers. He appeared to be a strong Christian by the way he prayed, but his utterances and certain actions were opposed to the truth. In the course of time he fell out with his pastor and left the church.
***** This article was culled from the author’s new book, ‘Trampling Over Demonic Spirits’. The book can be purchased on the Amazon bookstore through this link:
Rev Alfred Osafo-Yeboah is the senior pastor and founder of the Refreshing Word Ministries (Evergreen Church), a ministry committed to transforming people and directing them towards God’s purpose for their lives. He is a Conference Speaker, Bible Teacher and Pastor. He is also devoted to ministerial and leadership training. He and his wife Gloria and children reside in Tamale, Ghana.
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