An imagined interview: the deceiver's ten strategies

An imagined conversation with the devil exposes ten of his oldest methods, each answered by Scripture. He boasts that he has won. Scripture says he has already lost.

A note before you read. This is an imagined dialogue, a teaching device in the tradition of C.S. Lewis's "The Screwtape Letters". No real interview took place, and nothing here is a revelation. Yeshua said the devil "does not stand in the truth… for he is a liar and the father of it" John 8:44, so we don't trust a word he "says." His boasts are only a way to bring his methods into the light, and Scripture has already shown us those methods: "we are not ignorant of his devices" 2 Corinthians 2:11. After each boast comes what God's word says.

The interview

A journalist, who gives no name, sits across a bare table from a guest who also prefers not to give his.

Journalist: People say you're a myth. Others say you're behind everything. What do you actually do?

Deceiver: I don't do much. I suggest. People do the rest. Shall I count down my methods for you? I have many. Ten will do.

10. Keep them busy

Deceiver: I don't need them to hate God. I need them tired. Work, screens, worries, bills. They mean to read His book tomorrow. And tomorrow, they say it again.

What Scripture says. Yeshua described the seed that fell among thorns: "the cares of this world and the deceitfulness of riches choke the word, and he becomes unfruitful" Matthew 13:22. The thorns aren't always sins. Sometimes they're just too many good things, with no room left for Him.

9. Divide them

Deceiver: A believer alone is easier. So I give them something to fight about, and it's rarely the thing that matters.

What Scripture says. Yeshua prayed "that they all may be one" John 17:21. Paul pleaded "that you all speak the same thing, and that there be no divisions among you" 1 Corinthians 1:10. Unity in the truth is His goal; division for its own sake is the deceiver's.

8. Feed their pride

Deceiver: It worked on me first. "I will be like the Most High." When a leader is shown he's wrong, I whisper: you can't back down now. They usually listen.

What Scripture says. Isaiah spoke these words against the king of Babylon Isaiah 14:4, and many readers since early times have also seen in them the pride of the one behind him: "I will ascend into heaven, I will exalt my throne above the stars of El… I will be like the Most High" Isaiah 14:13-14. "Pride goes before destruction, and a haughty spirit before a fall" Proverbs 16:18. Go deeper: Pride, agendas and the courage to say "we were wrong".

7. Give them a comfortable religion

Deceiver: I love religion when it costs nothing. Let them be believers. Just not disciples. A song, a good feeling, and back to life as usual.

What Scripture says. Paul warned of people "having a form of godliness but denying its power" 2 Timothy 3:5, and of a time when people with "itching ears" would gather teachers who tell them what they want to hear 2 Timothy 4:3. Yeshua didn't ask for fans. He called disciples. Go deeper: Itching ears: feel-good and prosperity sermons and Before you go on: a word for every reader.

6. Make me a myth

Deceiver: Horns, a red suit, a cartoon. No one guards a door against a cartoon.

What Scripture says. "Satan himself transforms himself into an angel of light" 2 Corinthians 11:14. "Your adversary the devil walks about like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour" 1 Peter 5:8. He doesn't arrive looking evil. He arrives looking reasonable, even beautiful.

5. Change the times and the law, quietly

Deceiver: I never ask them to throw out God's calendar. I just offer another one. Give it a few generations, and the new one feels like it was always there.

What Scripture says. Daniel saw a power that "shall intend to change times and law" Daniel 7:25. God's appointed times were never man's to move. Go deeper: From Shabbat to Sunday: who made the change and How the appointed times were replaced: a timeline.

4. Close the Book, or twist it

Deceiver: If they won't close it, I quote it. My first words to a human were a question about what God said. I even quoted Scripture to Him.

What Scripture says. The serpent's first words: "Has Elohim indeed said, 'You shall not eat from any tree of the garden'?" Genesis 3:1. In the wilderness, he quoted a psalm to Yeshua: "If You are the Son of Elohim, throw Yourself down. For it is written…" Matthew 4:6. Yeshua answered with Scripture read rightly: "It is written again, 'You shall not test the Lord your Elohim'" Matthew 4:7. Go deeper: Are you sure? Examine what you believe.

3. Turn grace into license

Deceiver: I tell them grace means God's commandments don't matter anymore. They call it freedom.

What Scripture says. Jude warned about those "who turn the grace of our Elohim into licentiousness" Jude 1:4. Paul answered the question directly: "Shall we sin because we are not under law but under grace? Certainly not!" Romans 6:15. And Yeshua warned of people who did great works in His name: "I never knew you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness!" Matthew 7:23. Most believers would never say sin doesn't matter, but Scripture defines it: "sin is lawlessness" 1 John 3:4. Grace saves us, and it never sets obedience aside. Go deeper: One gospel: what Yeshua and the apostles preached and Grace and obedience.

2. Keep the two families apart

Deceiver: God wants one family. So I tell the Jews that Yeshua isn't theirs, and I tell the Christians that the Torah isn't theirs. Each side keeps half and thinks it has everything.

What Scripture says. The Messiah "has made both one, and has broken down the middle wall of separation" Ephesians 2:14-15. Ezekiel saw two sticks become one in God's hand, two houses made one nation again Ezekiel 37:15-22. This is not a charge against Jews or Christians. Both have been told something false about the other, and both carry a real treasure. Yeshua is Israel's Messiah, and the Jewish people remain "beloved for the sake of the fathers" Romans 11:28; the Torah was given for everyone who joins His people Numbers 15:16. Yeshua and the Torah belong together, and so do the two houses. Go deeper: The Two Houses of Israel.

1. Convince them they're already right

Deceiver: This is the one that holds the rest together. Ninety percent truth, a little poison. Then I let them feel sure. Deceived people never know they're deceived. That's what the word means.

What Scripture says. "There is a way that seems right to a man, but its end is the ways of death" Proverbs 14:12. Yeshua warned of signs and wonders "to deceive, if possible, even the elect" Matthew 24:24. The devil is the one who "deceives the whole world" Revelation 12:9. The only protection is to keep testing what we believe against what God wrote. Go deeper: My truth or God's truth?.

His "fans"

Journalist: And the people who openly follow you? Your fans, the ones who call you their master? Are they your army?

Deceiver: Army? No. They're my trophies, and God knows it. My real work is with the ones who think they're on His side. Either way, I win.

So he thinks. But see how he treats even those who serve him. Yeshua called him "a murderer from the beginning" John 8:44. "The thief does not come except to steal, and to kill, and to destroy" John 10:10. The people he holds are not his partners; they are captives, caught in "the snare of the devil, having been taken captive by him to do his will" 2 Timothy 2:26. He hates them as much as he hates everyone else.

And their story isn't finished. The everlasting fire was "prepared for the devil and his angels" Matthew 25:41; it was never made for people. "For this purpose the Son of Elohim was manifested, that He might destroy the works of the devil" 1 John 3:8. The risen Yeshua sent Paul to the nations "to open their eyes, in order to turn them from darkness to light, and from the power of Satan to Elohim" Acts 26:18.

No one is a trophy beyond the Father's reach while they live. The prodigal son was as far gone as anyone, and he went home. "But while he was still a long way off, his father saw him and was moved with compassion, and ran and fell on his neck and kissed him" Luke 15:20. The Father ran. Go deeper: Welcomed home.

The last question

Journalist: So you've won?

He doesn't answer. He looks at the table.

He knows what Scripture says. At the cross, the Messiah, "having disarmed principalities and powers, made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them in it" Colossians 2:15. Through death He destroyed "him who had the power of death, that is, the devil" Hebrews 2:14. The devil is furious, "because he knows that he has a short time" Revelation 12:12. He isn't winning. He already lost.

What breaks every strategy

Look back at the list. Every one of these methods falls apart the same way: when someone opens the Book, tests everything by it 1 Thessalonians 5:21, and comes home to the Father. Not all at once, but one step at a time. That includes testing what we write here. When Yeshua was tempted, He didn't argue with the deceiver. He answered: "It is written" Matthew 4:4.

Related studies

• "Take heed that no one deceives you": Yeshua warned that deceivers would try to mislead even the elect. This module brings man-made inventions to light so they can be tested by Scripture.
• My truth or God's truth?: What we believe doesn't change what God established. Sincere isn't the same as right, so it's worth testing what we believe against His word.
• Are you sure? Examine what you believe: All of us tend to defend what we already believe without checking it. Scripture tells us to examine it, starting with ourselves.
• Welcomed home: The son came home with a speech asking to be a hired servant. The father ran to him, cut the speech short and gave him back his place as a son.

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