Defeating the Devil - An Excerpt
Our friends at Core Christianity asked me last Summer to write a booklet on Satan and his tactics, together with an overview of Christ’s triumph over him. They’ve titled that book, “Can the Devil Read My Mind?” You may purchase the book by clicking here or using the button below »
Here's an excerpt from the first chapter:
The Christian’s life is a battle. The sooner we come to terms with the rage of our enemy and learn to depend on the power of the Lord of Hosts for our strength in the conflict, the sooner we’ll be able to properly equip ourselves. Like all soldiers, we need solid intel on our foe, including familiarity with his tactics and weapons. We also need to know our own weapons and how to deploy them. Paul wrote to Timothy that he should be prepared to “suffer hardship with me, as a good soldier of Jesus Christ” (2 Tim. 2:3).
This isn’t an easy battle, and it will last our entire lives. If we understand the nature of this warfare, the enemy we face, and how God has acted in Christ to deliver us from evil and defeat the powers of Satan, then at the end we’ll be able to say with Paul, “I fought the good fight . . . I have kept the faith” (2 Tim. 4:7).
That’s why this subject is important. As Christians, we want to see Jesus’ victory over the darkness extended into the whole world. We desire to please God, not giving into the subtle and sometimes violent ways Satan seeks to overthrow our faith. We also want to discern Satan’s footprints as he seeks to trap our friends and family with his lies, stealing from them life and joy in the gospel.
The wonderful British author C.S. Lewis wrote, “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. They themselves are equally pleased by both errors and hail a materialist2 or a magician with the same delight.”
In this booklet, we’ll look to avoid those twin errors and instead grasp two great truths. The first is that we really do have a sinister enemy. He’s the devil, or Satan, and he’s joined by a great many lesser creatures called demons in his efforts to despoil God’s world, destroy God’s people, and deny Christ’s gospel. The second is that we really do have a mighty savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, the incarnate Lord of Mighty Angels, who has come to deliver everyone bound by the devil, disarm the darkness through his cross, and destroy this enemy forever.