The prince of darkness vise grips the souls of billions of people through the superstructure of darkness and echoes of darkness. Let’s briefly consider both.
The world system is his darkness-promoting superstructure. It organizes human life around something or someone other than the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. It knows what fallen human nature wants and delivers it unfailingly with free shipping.
Fallen human nature echoes the darkness in every human heart. Like a cockroach, it flees from Jesus the light of life (John 1:4–5). It continuously tries to extinguish that light, but it can’t.
The director of this dark drama played out worldwide is the prince of darkness. You can defeat him, but not without reinforcements. “A final word: Be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power. Put on all of God’s armor so that you will be able to stand firm against all strategies of the devil. For we are not fighting against flesh-and-blood enemies, but against evil rulers and authorities of the unseen world, against mighty powers in this dark world, and against evil spirits in the heavenly places” (Ephesians 6:10–12 NLT).
Let’s consider some of the prince of darkness’ characteristics and strategies. He…
· Maximizes fear and discouragement to minimize obedience and Christian service (Joshua 1:9).
· Resists God’s plans and purposes. He tempted Jesus to stray from the Father’s will so He would no longer be a perfect sacrifice for sin (Matthew 4:1–11). It didn’t work.
· Wants to be worshipped instead of God (Matthew 4:9).
· Knows the Scriptures and uses them out of context to accomplish his purposes (Matthew 4:6).
· Has children. They break God’s law and live independently of God just as he does. They share his destiny—the fiery furnace prepared for him and his demons (Matthew 13:42, 25:41).
· Promotes ungodly shortcuts for people to achieve their goals (Matthew 4:9).
· Encourages self-interest and self-satisfaction instead of centering on God and His will (Matthew 4:4).
· Tempts people to meet legitimate needs in illegitimate ways (Matthew 4:3).
· Encourages fear of many things while downplaying fear of God’s judgment (Matthew 10:28).
· Loves doing evil things and tempts people to join him (John 8:44).
· Is a murderer. He stirred up Cain to kill Abel (John 8:44).
· Is a liar and hates the truth (John 8:44).
· Is the father of lies (John 8:44), providing abundant material for earth’s politicians!
· Steals, kills, and destroys (John 10:10).
· Oppresses people through diseases and physical maladies (Acts 10:38).
· Practices deceit and fraud (Acts 13:10). He promises a thrilling life of sin on a road that usually leads to temporal suffering and always to eternal death.
· Is the enemy of all that is good (Acts 13:10).
· Perverts the true ways of the Lord (Acts 13:10).
· Entices with sexual temptation (1 Corinthians 7:5).
· Has nothing in common with Christ (2 Corinthians 6:15).
· Stirs up disunity among believers (2 Corinthians 11:13–15) in opposition to Jesus’ desire for unity (John 17:22).
· Rules all who live in sin (Ephesians 2:2)
· Commands the powers in the invisible world (Ephesians 2:2).
· Is the spirit at work in those who refuse to obey God (Ephesians 2:2).
· Uses people’s anger for his evil purposes (Ephesians 4:27).
· Opposes God’s work in the world (Ephesians 6:11).
· Shoots fiery arrows that can’t penetrate the shield of faith (Ephesians 6:16).
· Uses human pride to render Christians ineffective in God’s service (1 Timothy 3:6).
· Sets traps to cause Christians to fall into disgrace (1 Timothy 3:7).
· Entraps those who don’t understand the truth, so they oppose it and do just what he wants (2 Timothy 2:26).
· Tempts people to sin which leads to spiritual death (Romans 6:23).
· Flees from Christians who resist him (James 4:7).
· Fights God’s people, trying to stop them from serving God effectively (1 Peter 5:8).
· Distract us through cravings for physical pleasure and everything we see, and pride in what we have and have done (1 John 2:15–16).
· Keeps on sinning and so do his children. Jesus came to do away with the keep-on-sinning lifestyle (1 John 3:8).
· And his children don’t do what is right and don’t love those who belong to God (1 John 3:10).
· Persecutes and imprisons Christians (Revelation 2:10).
· Deceives the whole world (Revelation 12:9).
· Slanders Christians before God (Revelation 12:10).
· Seethes with anger (Revelation 12:12).
· Is the dragon, the old serpent, and Satan (Revelation 20:2).
· Will be bound in chains for 1000 years (Revelation 20:2).
· Will be thrown into the fiery lake of burning sulfur with the beast and false prophet and tormented there forever (Revelation 20:10).
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