A Conversation With the Devil

A Conversation With The Devil

Have You Been A Victim of Satan’s Schemes?

Satan is the master of using people to do his bidding. His ability to get inside our heads and mess with our minds is well documented in the Scriptures. He will twist,  misrepresent, distort, fabricate and flat-out lie about anything or anyone to gain influence and control over our lives. Jesus said Satan was a murderer from the beginning, no truth in him. Lies are his native language, he is a liar and the father of lies. He is an accuser and false witness of people and God. It is much easier to identify Satan’s crafty influence in others than in ourselves. This is largely due to our own self-deception which we struggle to recognize until long after the damage is done and we are desperately trying to piece together what went wrong.

No one, regardless of how spiritual they may consider themselves to be, is immune from the devil’s tactics. In fact, the more spiritually confident you are the more aggressively Satan works at bringing you down. We have seen some of our most talented, gifted, and effective spiritual leaders, once held in high esteem, seduced by demonic spirits and succumb to fleshly desires. This is why the apostle Paul says, ” if you think you are standing firm, be careful that you don’t fall!” (1 Cor. 10:12)

The apostle Peter, the leading apostle or “primus inter parse,” found himself caught up in one of Satan’s schemes and received a swift rebuke from the Lord—”Get behind me, Satan.” Let’s review what happened:

From that time on Jesus began to explain to his disciples that he must go to Jerusalem and suffer many things at the hands of the elders, the chief priests and the teachers of the law, and that he must be killed and on the third day be raised to life. 22 Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him. “Never, Lord!” he said. “This shall never happen to you!” 23 Jesus turned and said to Peter, “Get behind me, Satan! You are a stumbling block to me; you do not have in mind the concerns of God, but merely human concerns.”  (Matt. 16:21-23)

As our Lord begins to reveal Father’s plan of redemption and that he is the atoning sacrificial lamb who will suffer crucifixion, die for our sins, and be resurrected on the third day, the apostle Peter is inwardly struggling with Satan’s misleading influence. Satan has engaged Peter’s mind with “human concerns” (v23) rather than listening to Jesus share “the concerns of God” (v23). Instead of listening, learning and receiving what Jesus is saying, Peter is listening to Satan’s twisted appeal to human reasoning; and while human logic and reasoning are often beneficial in our lives, they can become a “stumbling block“ that prevents us from following God’s will. Therefore, Satan convinced Peter that Jesus’ “deathwish scenario” was clearly not in the best interest of God’s will. Peter is now a victim of Satan and self-deception, and where you find self-deception you will find Satan and his demonic influence. With Peter’s mind and heart filled with Satan’s manipulative influence, Peter leaps into action to do Satan’s bidding.

“Peter took Him aside,” perhaps not wanting to make a scene and embarrass Jesus by correcting him in front of the others. Nevertheless, Peter began to chide, admonish, and rebuke Jesus. “Never, Lord!” he said. “This shall never happen to you!”

It is important to note here, the salvation of all mankind exclusive resides in Christ’s sacrificial death on the cross. In 2 Cor. 5:21 we are taught that Christ bore in His body the sin of all mankind and took our place and punishment on the cross that we might be transformed into the righteousness of God in Christ Jesus. He is the payment for all sin. It is because of His broken body and shed blood that we are reconciled to God. Satan, through Peter, was out to rob the entire world of our only hope for forgiveness and eternal life. Without Christ sacrificial death we would be eternally lost. He has reconciled us to the Father through His propitiatory death.

Now all things are of God, who has reconciled us to Himself through Jesus Christ, and has given us the ministry of reconciliation, ¹⁹ that is, that God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself, not imputing their trespasses to them, and has committed to us the word of reconciliation. (2 Cor. 5:18-19)

We can only imagine the look on Peter’s face when Jesus turned and said, “Get behind me, Satan.” Peter must have been devastated because, in his mind, he was convinced he was doing the right thing by setting Jesus straight. He was totally unaware that he was actually doing Satan’s bidding.

Self-deception often results when we reason spiritual things outside of God’s word and reevaluate them through the limited logic of human intellect. It is here that Satan brings his best game and seduces the imperfect mind that has rejected the truth in search of a more acceptable alternative. When God speaks and we do not accept his word we are guilty of unbelief and open the door for a conversation with Satan. The apostle Paul warns the church in Eph. 4:27 to not give “place” or a “foothold” to the devil because of anger or unforgiveness. The principle at work here is that Satan gains access to our lives when we fail to accept God’s word of truth. This rejection of truth opens the door and gives the devil a place in our minds to manipulate, argue, reason and lie—always appealing to our base nature. It was Peter’s voice, but Satan’s words coming out of Peter’s mouth. It was Satan’s message planted in the mind of Peter. Satan not only convinced Peter to reject Christ teaching but got him to rebuke the Lord. It was a kind of I rebuke you, Jesus, in the name of Satan moment.

Just as Peter was momentarily blinded by self-deception, facilitated by Satan, many today are blinded by Satan “the god of this age” who has twisted, misrepresented, distorted, fabricated, and flat-out lied about repentance, salvation, forgiveness of sin, and eternal life.

The god of this age has blinded the minds of unbelievers so that they cannot see the light of the gospel that displays the glory of Christ, who is the image of God. (2Cor. 4:4)

Perhaps some of you reading this, now realize the menacing effects of Satan and how he sets us up for self-deception. It is quite possible Satan has disrupted your thought process from fully understanding the message of salvation and God’s love. May I urge you to stop right now and take another look at the Scriptures. More specifically, read the Gospel of Luke, The Acts of the Apostles, and then Paul’s Epistle to the Romans. Set a time to read where you can be alone for about 20-30 minutes. Read 4 chapters per day and ask God to reveal himself to you. If you follow this advice, your life will never be the same again.

You may be interested in these blogs:

Demonic Influence, Progression, and possession

 Are You Really Born Again?

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