Learning Satan's Tactics

        We can learn many things by simple observation. You can watch a fish in shallow water and how it is attracted to certain things, movements an colors. Soon, you are able to come up with an artificial lure that will help you catch fish. We can also look at the wind and the affects of the wind and soon come up with a kite. I have had a couple of kites in my younger days and even tried to fly one with our kids at one time or another. My Father came up with a kite, not his original design, but one that was the best kite I ever had. I was probably seven or eight years old and my Father built a “box” kite our of wood slats and newspaper. He put a tail on it, got some string and let it go in the Indiana breeze. It rose quickly and was soon just very visible at the end of the long string. I could feel it tugging at my arms and then, as I told the story to my Father, I felt it beginning to lift me off of the small cement porch of our house. Becoming fearful, I let it go. My fear of being lifted into the air overcame me and much to my dismay and that of my Father, the kite was never seen again, but it was the best kite ever. Ephesians 6:11 says, “Put on the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil.”

        Once we learn how things work, it is much easier for us to get things done when we use the information we have. I once heard of a vet who had to check a heard of cattle for pink eye. The vet simply went into the center of the field and lay on the ground. Soon, every cow came by and looked at him, thus he was able to check their eyes. The vets knowledge of the curiosity of the cow was used to help him do his job that day. In the above verse of Scripture, there is one word, “wiles” that is very helpful for us in our daily lives. The word means, “methods.” The original word is the word from which we get the word, “methods.” We know from this passage that Satan desires to lure us away from the truth of God's Word and since we know his methods, we should be able to come up with a plan to combat his efforts. If you know you are going to get hit, you can protect yourself from the blow. The Bible reminds us that Satan is continually battling with the perversion of the truth. He can put just enough of a lie in it to make it something that it is not. Oh, it will look like the real thing, but it is in reality something else. Things will look similar, sound similar and feel similar, but they are not the real thing. It is said that treasury agents are educated to spot counterfeit money by looking and studying the real thing. So, in order for us to spot the counterfeit or the facsimile of something, we need to study the real thing. The answer, of course, is for us to be in the Word of God and to know the truth so well, that we are not persuaded by that which is similar. Read what God has said in His Word and know it well because Satan is going to attack you just as he has attacked others over the years. His tactics have never changed. Praise God today for the copy of the Bible that you possess and make sure that you spend some time in it today and in the days to come.