Spiritual Warfare – the enemy’s strategy and tactics part 5 – Deception and Lies

We continue our look at the enemy and his tactics by considering his character as the deceiver – who can appear as an angel of light (2 Cor. 11:14) and who deceives the whole world (Rev. 12:9). It is our enemy’s most used and most successful strategy – he started with Eve in the garden and his binding in the pit during the Millennium is specifically so that “he should deceive the nations no more”.

One of the aspects of successful deception is that the person who is deceived does not know it! It is the default condition of all unbelievers (2 Cor. 4:4; Eph. 2:2). Those who trust in Christ have been called out of that darkness (2 Cor. 4:6; 1 Pet. 2:9) but still have to guard against deception, especially in the end times (Matt. 24:4; 2 Tim. 3:13). How can we arm ourselves against this strategy of the enemy? What are his tactics? Forewarned is forearmed!

Underlying thought behind the Greek word for deception is ‘wandering’, roving, going astray. By implication, it describes an impostor or seducer. Our word planet is derived from this. The Greek observed the skies and saw that almost all the stars moved in straight lines across the skies consistently night after night, like they were going round the earth in a great sphere. But a very small number, about half a dozen, appeared to wander around, in curved paths, sometimes even going backwards. They called them “wandering stars” – planetes (Jude 13). (It wasn’t until Copernicus and Galileo that astronomers realised that they were orbiting the sun as was the earth. Prior to that there were all sorts of theories as to how they moved around the skies – and then the light dawned! But not everybody liked it – especially the Church! But that’s another story!)

In Hebrew, there are 7 words all of which carry the thought of seduction, leading or going astray, beguile, especially to entice the simple, to cheat or mock, to pretend.

So the objective of deception is to cause the one who is deceived to go astray. Astray from what? From God’s will and plan (Matt. 4:6; 16:23); into paths of darkness to cause them to stumble and fall (2 Cor. 4:4) and, if Christians, to make them ineffective and useless for the kingdom (2 Cor. 11:3).

As we said in earlier, it is the default condition of all unbelievers (2 Cor. 4:4; Eph. 2:2) – and they don’t know it! They think that their darkness is actually wisdom (1 Cor. 2:6-8).

Although satan is said to be enthroned in several cities (Rev 2:13; Dan 10:13) and is a ruler over a kingdom of darkness (John 12:31; 14:30; Eph. 2:2;6:12; Col. 1:13), with the whole world described as lying in the power of the wicked one (1 John 5:19), the nations of the world are not at his beck and call; he needs to deceive them for them to act (Rev 20:1-3).

How can you tell if you’ve been deceived?

Easy enough to define what it is to be deceived and a little trickier to know when you are being deceived.

It may be a gut feeling that something is not right, questions about what you are being told that don’t go away, or moving in a direction that is in opposition to something which you are certain is true. Conversation with friends, family, colleagues or a church community can be helpful in discerning whether or not you are being deceived. We need one another!

1.     What you believe in goes against the truth of God’s Word

KNOW THE TRUTH! and know the right path.

A great many Christians nowadays are easily deceived without knowing it. Some of them read their Bibles, go to church on Sundays, and yet fail to live the life that God wants us to live: a life obedient to His Word.

James 1:22 reminds us, “Be doers of the word and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves.”

When we hear God’s Word but don’t do what it says, it simply shows that we don’t believe what it says. We merely hear it. Perhaps, we could even project an image of holiness, but deep in our hearts and minds we don’t accept the Word of God.

God will never go against His Word. If what we believe in is not founded in or goes against the very Word of God, what we are believing in is a lie.

2.     We easily believe anything that comes our way

When we tend to easily believe whatever comes our way, we will be easily deceived. The world – of course, Satan – offers all sorts of meaningless words and empty “knowledge,” disguising them as “wisdom.” No, wisdom only comes from the fear of the Lord God (see Proverbs 9:10).

We are told to be vigilant, not believing everything we hear. 1 John 4:1-3 tells us,

    “Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God, because many false prophets have gone out into the world. This is how you know the Spirit of God: Every spirit that confesses that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is from God, and every spirit that does not confess that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is not from God. This is the spirit of the antichrist, which you have heard is coming and is already in the world.”

3.     You’re going with the wrong company

OK, you might say that you’re in the truth and are not deceived, but look at the people you’re spending time with. 1 Corinthians 15:33 tells us, “Do not be deceived: ‘Bad company ruins good morals.” Who we go with says something about the state of our heart.

While we must be willing to reach out to the unsaved and the lost so that we could bring Christ’s love to them, we must be careful not to allow their wrong beliefs to influence us.

In the case of the Corinthians, Paul was warning about people calling themselves Christians, maybe even born again, but who peddled false teaching. We need to consider who we allow to influence us, whether in a local fellowship or through books or online methods. Does their life match up to their words? Do they stay faithful to the Word of God or are they peddling speculations or spectacular manifestations with no ground in the Word?

    “Blessed is the man who walks not in the counsel of the ungodly, nor stands in the path of sinners, nor sits in the seat of scoffers; but his delight is in the law of the Lord, and in His law he meditates day and night.” (Psalm 1:1-2)

4.     By the fruit your life is producing

The only way to recognize deception is by the un-Christlike fruit it produces in our lives: We are discouraged and live with self-condemnation, the past haunts us, our inner strength wanes, our hope diminishes and problems seem to be invincible mountains. Our estimation of ourselves is that we can’t make it, and we become spiritually paralyzed.

All this is exactly what Satan is aiming for. He knows he can’t take us to hell, so he deceives us to make us ineffective and fruitless in the Lord’s work.

What to do? Take your thoughts captive!

In our case, we must take up the sword of the Spirit, which is the Word of God. With it, we destroy every one of our imaginations and the lies of the devil that are contrary to what the Bible says about our identity as Christians. The Apostle Paul instructed us to do this: “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” (2 Corinthians 10:4–5).

This will set us free once again—free from the deceptive words of the Enemy and free to follow Christ as He called us to.

Get your verses ready and don’t let the Enemy keep you bound!

Lucifer brightness Isa. 14:12; 2 Cor. 12:14

Strategy: Deception. Our response: Belt of truth, Sword of the Spirit

Tactics	Our defence
Blinding the minds of unbelievers	Preach Christ Jesus as Lord 2 Cor. 4:5-6
Deceiving the world – atheism, agnosticism, humanism, evolution; started in the Garden, Gen. 3	2 Tim. 4:2-5; 1 Pet. 3:15
Deceiving the church – Infiltrate the tares amongst the wheat – wrong Theology	2 Tim. 4:2-5; 1 Tim. 3:15
Plucking the Word out of people’s hearts	Grounded in the truth Eph. 4:11-14
Signs and wonders of the Lie (false signs, not because they aren’t miracles but they are done to deceive)	Matt. 24:4-7, 24; 2 Thess. 2:9-10

Liar John 8:44

Strategy: Lies. Our response: Belt of truth

Tactics	Our defence
I’m afraid to pray and fear that God will mock my petitions	Heb. 4:14-16.
Telling you that there’s no hope; Despair	Rom. 5:1-10; 15:13; 2 Tim. 1:7
I’m a spiritual orphan and belong to no one	Gal. 4:4-7
I’m not having any impact in life or on others	2 Cor. 12:9-10.
When you don’t have a sense of any personal value	Matt. 10:29-31; 1 John 3:1-3.
When you feel defeated by sin and hopeless ever to change	Rom. 7:24-25.
When you struggle to find meaning in life	Eph. 1:4-14; Rom. 11:33-36.