"The Unseen Enemy" Part III  (The Strategy of the Devil) In this third segment of our teaching, we shall expose the schemes of the devil in the light of the Holy Scriptures.  The devil can only work in darkness, so enlightening ourselves with the truth of God’s Word  will keep us from being deceived. Many of his devices are revealed in the names of the devil listed in Part I, “Knowing the Enemy.”  To recap, some of these names are: the deceiver of the whole world, the accuser of the brethren, the wicked one, destroyer, thief, father of lies, murderer, angel of light, seducing spirit, a roaring lion, enemy of our souls, adversary and antichrist.  Also in Part I we established that the devil and his demons have already been judged and their damnation is forever fixed.  The devil’s goal, as stated in Part II, is to deceive and take with him into hell as many people as he can.  His destiny is the Lake of Fire and he wants you there with him. We can know Satan’s strategy, for the Apostle Paul wrote that “we are not ignorant of his devices” (2 Corinthians 2: 11).  Paul also instructed believers to “put on the whole armor of God that you may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil” (Ephesians 6: 11).  As the Bible says, there is “nothing new under the sun,” and the devil’s tricks have not changed since the beginning. Just as he lied to Eve, he lies to us today.  He challenges the Word of God, and God’s integrity.  He not only accuses us to one another and to God, but Satan accuses God before mankind.  We hear the accusation frequently when an atheist declares, “I don’t believe in a God who would allow all of the evil in this world to happen.”  The devil has laid the blame of the havoc  he has wrought on the blameless One.  This argument is illogical, because for evil to exist, there has to be good.  God is good, and the source of all goodness.  God has given mankind and angels the power of choice, and because we are created beings who are less than God, we can and have rebelled against Him.  Our rebellion against our Creator is the cause of the world’s woes.  As free moral agents, we can choose to love God: without that choice it would not be love.  Our hearts are the only thing that we have to give God that He does not already own.  Love is precious and what God desires from us. The serpent told Eve, “You will not die…you will be like God, knowing good and evil” (Genesis 3: 4-5).  New Age religions and some cults teach that we are all gods and can live our lives with complete autonomy.  They teach that the devil, hell and the judgment are fairy tales invented by Christians.  Most of the millions of people in the torments of hell today never believed in the devil or hell -- they believe now.  There are many who will be surprised to find themselves in hell. On the other hand, none will be surprised who go to Heaven because it takes a decision to believe in the Lord Jesus Christ and to become His disciple; one must deny himself and this corrupt world system. Satan has blinded fallen man to his need for a Savior.  Man, in his damnable pride, believes that there are “many paths that lead to God,” and in his vanity man believes that somehow he will escape the sentence of hell.  Jesus said, “I am the Door” and that “he who does not enter the sheepfold by the door is a thief and a robber” (John 10: 1, 9).  Man is already condemned, for John 3: 18 states that “he who does not believe is condemned already.”  Satan veils the gospel of Jesus Christ so that sinners will not receive salvation and be rescued from condemnation.  “And this is the condemnation, that light has come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil.  For every one practicing evil hates the light, and does not come to the light lest his deeds should be exposed” (John 3: 19-20).  This is why men compare themselves to one another, saying, “I’m not a bad person; I’ve never killed anyone or stolen anything.”  They use unrighteous, fallen man as a standard to measure their “goodness” by rather that the light of Jesus Christ.  The Bible declares, “There is none righteous, no, not one” (Romans 3:10).  To be saved, we must first know that we are lost.  The devil will do all in his deceptive power to keep you from acknowledging your need for the Lord Jesus Christ. The good news is that God is greater than the devil and our sins.  No devil in hell can keep you away from the Lord if you sincerely desire Him. Our part is to believe in Jesus Christ, and trust Him to change us and deliver us from the wicked one.  God does not desire that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance.  The devil came to steal, kill and destroy our lives; Jesus came that we might have life, and life more abundantly (John 10:10).  Ask the Lord Jesus to save you and forgive you of all of your sins.  He will give you a new heart and in an instant you will be translated from the kingdom of darkness into the kingdom of light.  “We know that whoever is born of God does not sin; but he who has been born of God keeps himself and the wicked one does not touch him.  We know that we are of God, and the whole world lies under the sway of the wicked one.  And we know that the Son of God has come and given us an understanding, that we may know Him who is true, and we are in Him who is true, in His Son Jesus Christ.  This is the true God and eternal life” (1 John 5: 18-20).