"THE NATURE OF SATAN"
By Patti King

We conclude our article on the nature of satan, picking up where we left off in the July/August issue, with the question, "So, how did the serpent beguile Eve?"

Remember, BEGUILE means to lead astray, i.e., (mentally) to delude or (morally) to SEDUCE, DECEIVE.

How did he mentally delude her? Morally seduce her? Deceive her? These are questions I asked myself.

Genesis 3 verse 1: "Now the serpent was more subtil than any beast of the field which the LORD God had made. And he said unto the woman, Yea, hath God said, Ye shall not eat of every tree of the garden?"

"And he said unto the woman" - Eve's first mistake was TO LISTEN to the serpent. She had already heard God say, "you will die", but she opened the door to disobedience by listening to the serpent. He knew the consequences of what her disobedience would bring. He knew her disobedience would set evil in motion. Don't you think he knows the consequences of what our disobedience brings much better than we do, and he will manipulate us with the same tactics. Remember, the beguiler is delicately skillful, strangely suggestive, a whisperer of magic spells, crafty, and cunning.

He may not be so blatant with us. He doesn't come and get right in our face. Instead, he skillfully MAKES US THINK the vain imaginations, self-righteous judgments, and evil thoughts are our own thoughts, when in truth they are rooted in his beguiling schemes.

How did the serpent beguile Eve? "Yea, hath God said, Ye shall not eat of every tree of the garden?" The Amplified says, "Can it really be that God has said …" He challenges the authority, the credibility, the validity of God and His Word. He is planting seeds of unbelief and doubt.

Remember, part of his deceptive scheme is to make a person BELIEVE WHAT IS NOT TRUE. He demonstrates this nature of his character in verse 4, "And the serpent said unto the woman, Ye shall not surely die:" He wanted to make her believe that what God said was not true. Has he ever abandoned that mission with us? Absolutely not! No matter how he sugar coats it, the Bible still says that the wages of sin is death.

His beguiling nature is to morally seduce - to lead apart, to persuade to do something disloyal, disobedient, to persuade to do wrong, as by offering something to tempt to do evil or wrongdoing. We see that offer in verse 5. "For God doth know that in the day ye eat thereof, then your eyes shall be opened, and ye shall be as gods, knowing good and evil." He knows how to make the sale! Offer her something she can't refuse. She already has it all - that is everything but the one restriction. But if she'll accept this offer then she can even have that. She'll have everything that God has. And notice, the serpent kept himself out of the picture here. HE WAS MANIPULATING THE TRUTH OF GOD'S WORD so Eve would make her own choice as to what to believe. The devil didn't really steal the tree of life from Adam and Eve. He used his nature against Eve, whereby she chose to give up the right to the tree of life. Do you not think he knows how to set each one of us up with his master schemes? And, he is very patient with his schemes. I remember years ago when a well known evangelist was walking in sexual sin. It didn't make headlines until he was extremely well-known in Christian circles. Satan waited in the shadows until the impact would bring greater devastation. Rev 2:7 "He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches; To him that overcometh will I give to eat of the tree of life, which is in the midst of the paradise of God."

Gen 3, Verse 6, "And when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree to be desired to make one wise, she took of the fruit thereof, and did eat, and gave also unto her husband with her; and he did eat."

"WHEN THE WOMAN SAW" - The beguilement, the deception, and the seduction came in through her eyes. Saw relates to the Latin word "video". Knowledge as described in the tree of knowledge is a derivative of a word that means, "to ascertain by seeing". It was when their eyes were opened that God had to implement His plan to protect them from the tree of life. We must guard our eyes. They are portals for beguilement, deception and seduction. Matthew 5:28 "But I say unto you, That whosoever looketh on a woman to lust after her hath committed adultery with her already in his heart."

I would like to submit that as we seek God for deliverance from the beguiler, the deceiver and the seducer, that we command these spirits out of our eyes. Loose the Spirit of Truth into our eyes!

"When the woman saw" - It was at that point that the serpent clearly had accomplished his task of causing her TO SEE THE LIE AS TRUTH. He had the confidence of knowing she had given up her dominion over him. Not only had she given up her dominion over him, she gave it all up!

He is still working on us today to "give up" and to "give it up" - situations in life, struggles, unanswered prayers, mountains that appear to never topple, fighting the same devils, the same battles over and over and over again. Does he not try to make us give up? Wear us out? Of course he does. He wants us to give up our fellowship, our relationship, and our intimacy with God. If we were left to our own devices, many times we would and have given up.

We can't overcome or win in our own strength or determination. It helps but it's not the complete solution. Remember, Eve had dominion over the serpent and she gave it up. "Therefore if any man be in Christ." That is where the victory lies for us today. He is the Spirit of Truth that must fill our hearts, our minds, and our eyes. Truth is our protection from the serpent's beguiling tactics to destroy us as he did Eve. It is that place "IN CHRIST" where those old things (old serpents) are dealt with.

Remember, this enemy has one, three-fold purpose. And what is that? It is to steal, kill and destroy.

He is brilliant in his plan - subtle - cunning - crafty - delicately skillful - clever - able to delude - seduce - manipulate. He knows how to manipulate each of us, for his intended end. He has a plan of death for each of us. That is his nature.

The good news is that God has a BIGGER plan and HIS plan is one of life! "The law of the spirit of life in Christ Jesus has set us free from the law of sin and death!" But, absent the power of the Holy Spirit and the authority of the name of Jesus, we are no match for him in our own ability or strength.

Now let's look at satan's attempt to beguile Jesus. Go to Luke 4 and lets read verse 1 "And Jesus being full of the Holy Ghost (note here that Jesus is full of the Holy Ghost) returned from Jordan, and was led by the Spirit (He was led by the Spirit - our terminology is a Spirit Filled Christian) into the wilderness, 2 Being forty days tempted of the devil. And in those days he did eat nothing: and when they were ended, he afterward hungered. 3 And the devil said unto him, If thou be the Son of God, (satan was challenging Jesus and His position as the Son of God - if you are really the son of God then) command this stone that it be made bread. (Satan used food to try and crack Jesus, hoping that he would catch Him in a weak moment since He had been fasting.) 4 And Jesus answered him, saying, It is written, That man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word of God.

Do you remember what deceive means? Deceive is to "take down or from" - beguile. Does he not also want to take us down from our position in God? Or even more accurately, TO CAUSE US TO TAKE OURSELVES DOWN from that place that Jesus has given us. He attempts to beguile using the weakness of our flesh and if he can accomplish that, then he has already destroyed the position we have in God. It is interesting that both with Eve and Jesus, he uses food as an instrument to cause them to give up the position they have in God. Eve gave up her position. Jesus did not.

5 And the devil, taking him ("the devil took Jesus" who was Spirit filled. Think about that for a moment. The devil took Jesus, the Son of God, who was without sin. Who are we to think he doesn't take us?) up into an high mountain, shewed unto him all the kingdoms of the world in a moment of time. (Let's stop again. The devil showed - that means show, expose to the eyes. Here we are back to the eyes again. In a moment of time … he gave him an instant video of all the kingdoms of the world. The Amplified says, "in the twinkling of an eye". That tells us the devil has some real supernatural, creative abilities.) 6 And the devil said unto him, All this power will I give thee, and the glory of them: for that is delivered unto me; and to whomsoever I will I give it. (Remember, he is the god of this world.) 7 If thou therefore wilt worship me, all shall be thine. 8 And Jesus answered and said unto him, Get thee behind me, satan: for it is written, Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God, and him only shalt thou serve."

He wants your life, your devotion, your affections, your time, your mind, your will, your emotions, and your relationships. The list just goes on and on. He wants you to serve him.

But Jesus responded to him that there was no option BUT to worship the Lord thy god and serve HIM only.

9 And he brought him to Jerusalem, and set him on a pinnacle of the temple, (satan is trying to manipulate Jesus) and said unto him, If thou be the Son of God, cast thyself down from hence: (The last ditch effort, but the most significant in the study of the nature of satan to beguile us, is to kill. Here he TRIED SEDUCING JESUS TO COMMIT SUICIDE by jumping off the pinnacle of the temple.) 10 For it is written, He shall give his angels charge over thee, to keep thee: 11 And in their hands they shall bear thee up, lest at any time thou dash thy foot against a stone. 12 And Jesus answering said unto him, It is said, Thou shalt not tempt the Lord thy God."

Basically, he was saying the same thing to Jesus as he did to Eve. With Eve he simply stated, "Ye shall not die." With Jesus, he tried to trick him using the Word of God, "It is written". His ultimate goal both with Eve and Jesus was to kill. And that is his goal for us.

There is something else we need to see here in reference to beguiling.

Throughout this entire experience that Jesus had with satan, He would always overcome the enemy with the LIVING WORD, "It is written". Jesus was the LIVING WORD!

Satan used the Word also. But his intent and usage of the Word was to minister DEATH. We need to ask the Lord to help us examine our hearts - so that the LIVING WORD may come forth. None of us want to be used as instruments of death! But we are all still a mixture. I believe that if the intent is towards good, then we can expect God to work out the details.

It is your responsibility; it is my responsibility to try the spirit of what is being ministered. I expect you to be trying the spirit as you read this article, to see if it be of God. If you are beguiled from the pulpit, you have no one to blame but yourself. And if you discern a spirit of error, something being said that doesn't ring right, pray for God to open their eyes to the truth.

Jesus said to the devil - "Thou shalt not tempt the Lord thy God." Interestingly, that word tempt means to "test thoroughly". In 1 Cor 10:9 it says, "Neither let us tempt Christ, as some of them also tempted, and were destroyed of serpents."

Let's look at one of the ways satan attempts to beguile us. His nature is demonstrated when we point the finger at somebody else. We become the accuser of the brethren. "The serpent beguiled me." That was what Eve did. "The woman whom thou gavest to be with me." That was what Adam did. And that is what we do. It is so much easier to judge the actions of others instead of acknowledging our own faults. God makes it very clear that we are to get our act cleaned up first. Luke 6: 41-42 "And why beholdest thou the mote that is in thy brother's eye, but perceivest not the beam that is in thine own eye? Either how canst thou say to thy brother, Brother, let me pull out the mote that is in thine eye, when thou thyself beholdest not the beam that is in thine own eye? Thou hypocrite, cast out first the beam out of thine own eye, and then shalt thou see clearly to pull out the mote that is in thy brother's eye." We are beguiled when we judge, accuse, and place blame against others or ourselves.

In conclusion let us remember, the nature of satan is a counterfeit to the nature of God. We are to love one another. 1 John 4:7-8, "Beloved, let us love one another: for love is of God; and every one that loveth is born of God, and knoweth God. He that loveth not knoweth not God; for God is love." We are to keep ourselves in the love of God. If you feel there are areas in your life where the enemy is beguiling, seducing and deceiving you from allowing the love and nature of God to flow through you, then perhaps you will want to pray the following simple prayer. Do not think for a moment that God won't answer you. He wants nothing more than for you to be in His image and likeness.

Heavenly Father, I want Your nature to flow out of me. I do not want the nature of satan in any area of my life. I ask you to please show me where the enemy is beguiling, seducing and deceiving me. Bring me to that place IN CHRIST where ALL of the old things are passed away and Your nature is all that remains. Amen.

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