The War WithinShembull

Who Is Our Enemy?

Who is our enemy? Every believer can quickly answer this question—the Devil, Satan! While we may know him by these titles, many scriptures refer to his qualities and nature. Some titles or characteristics are:

• The Father of lies – John 8:44 
• The Seducer or Deceiver – Revelation 12:9 
• The Divider (he accomplishes this by poisoning the atmosphere with words spoken through men) - James 3:6 – 8 
• The Destroyer – Revelation 9:11 

Once we can identify our enemy, it will be easy to recognize his tactics and strategies. He knows that if the believer knows who he is, he won’t get far in sowing his seeds of lies. 

As I mentioned earlier in the plan, the enemy loves when we are on far ends of the spectrum of either believing everything is about him or downplaying his existence. C. S. Lewis stated it this way, “There are two equal and opposite errors into which our race can fall about the devils. One is to disbelieve in their existence. The other is to believe, and to feel an excessive and unhealthy interest in them.”

He will work overtime to have us remain in either state. He thrives on:

1) Believers downplaying his existence by being uninterested or unbelieving, making him out to be a creature that parades around in a red cape and underwear with a harmless smirk. But the Apostle John tells us emphatically, “We know [positively] that we are of God, and the whole world [around us] is under the power of the evil one.” 1 John 5:19 (AMPC).

2) Believers remaining ignorant of the word of God about him; he doesn’t mind us reading the word if we don’t get a revelation of that word. Paul tells us, “And it is no wonder, for Satan himself masquerades as an angel of light.” 2 Corinthians 11:14 (AMPC).

3) He infiltrates our lives by masking over harmful things as though it is normal or even godly or by just twisting the truth a little to appeal to our senses. We see this in the garden, “When the woman saw that the fruit of the tree was good for food and pleasing to the eye, and also desirable for gaining wisdom, she took some and ate it. She also gave some to her husband, who was with her, and he ate it.” Genesis 3:6 (NIV)

Mark Moring from Christianity Today International wrote about his question to Mel Gibson on Passion of the Christ, 

When asked why he portrayed Satan—an androgynous, almost beautiful being played by Rosalinda Celentano—the way he did, Gibson replied: "I believe the Devil is real, but I don't believe he shows up too often with horns and smoke and a forked tail. The devil is smarter than that. Evil is alluring, attractive. It looks almost normal, almost good—but not quite.”

It is amazing how subtle the enemy may appear, but his ways are devious, and we need always to be mindful of his tactics. But we must recognize the word of God is way more powerful than any of his schemes. 

Who is our enemy? The answer is Satan or the Devil.

"We must remember that Satan has his miracles, too."- John Calvin