In my life I’ve encountered supernatural evil many more times than I wanted to. It’s not a secret, although it’s also not something that I talk very much about. And I won’t be surprised if I encounter it again, just as it’s not uncommon for people who have come to Christ out of alcohol or drug addiction to find God using them to minister to alcoholics and drug addicts. Equally, those who have been rescued from bondage to sexual sin are often called to be a light to others caught in sexual sin. I’m not going to take it on myself to seek out demonic encounters, but if that’s what following Jesus brings me to, I don’t run from them.
I mention this because, whenever someone mentions spiritual warfare, the first idea that pops into many people’s heads is casting out demons. And I’d be the last person to try to downplay the importance of that kind of spiritual warfare. I can certainly testify from my own experience that this kind of battle is real. The vast majority of my battles, however, have not been against openly manifesting demons, but against something much more dangerous. The true face of spiritual warfare is not about power; it’s about overcoming deception.
Let me give you an example. It may a come as a shock to those of you who know me personally, but I’m not perfect. It might be an even bigger shock to hear that my wife is not perfect either. And so, sometimes we argue. But we’ve somehow gotten into the habit of letting arguments end. I’m not sure how that happened; I don’t recall having a specific agreement about it. It’s just that neither of us brings up old arguments. Is this a good idea? Absolutely! I recommend it to every couple; when an argument is over, let it stay over. And I’m not the only one who says so; God’s word tells us:
In your anger do not sin: Do not let the sun go down while you are still angry, and do not give the devil a foothold (Ephesians 4:26-27).
Only, sometimes it’s not that easy. Sometimes I find that my mind keeps going back to a disagreement that we had hours, or even days earlier. And then the lies start popping up; Catherine doesn’t respect me, she’s never respected me, all she cares about is what I can do for her, I’d be better off if I just left. If you’re married you probably know what I’m talking about, although your lies might be different than mine.
But there’s a trap here beyond the obvious. If I listen to the lies, I’ll start to resent my wife. But if I call them out as lies and push back, if I focus my mental energy on remembering all the ways Catherine is not like that, I can get tricked into accepting a deeper, and much more dangerous lie; the lie that the way I treat my wife depends on the way she treats me. That’s the hidden lie behind the obvious lies; the one that makes me a slave to what other people do (or, more accurately, to the way I perceive what other people do). That’s the deception that is truly satanic.
And to be clear, when I say it’s satanic, does that mean there’s literally a demon whispering this lie to me? Probably not. It’s probably my old nature, my “flesh” as the New Testament calls it, reinforced by a culture that celebrates revenge as “poetic justice.” That’s probably why the lying voice in my head sounds so much like my own, because, in a very real sense, it is. But the message, you have to treat other people the way they treat you, is of the devil, even if it’s delivered by my flesh.
The truth is that I don’t have to be controlled by other people; I can be controlled instead by the Holy Spirit (Romans 8:9). And it actually matters that I expose this lie rather than focusing entirely on the other ones because, as I mentioned above, Catherine is not perfect. There are going to be times when she really has done or said something wrong. Nor is she the only person I interact with. From time to time, I run into people who are genuinely jerks. I can treat those people the way they treat me, or I can treat them the way Jesus treats me. Which one I choose depends largely on what I believe.
Now, this is just one example, but it’s important to recognize the tactic behind it. The obvious attack – lies about my wife – hides a more dangerous deception – lies about myself. John Mark Comer describes the devil’s strategy as, “deceptive ideas that play to disordered desires, which are normalized in a sinful society,”1 which pretty much agrees with the Bible’s picture. Over and over again in Scripture, we are warned about being deceived and, in fact, Jesus himself described the devil this way:
“He was a murderer from the beginning, not holding to the truth, for there is no truth in him. When he lies, he speaks his native language, for he is a liar and the father of lies” (John 8:44).
Even during times of outright persecution, the real attack on believers is not violence, but deception. When Jesus was warning his disciples of the persecution that was coming, along with political upheaval and even natural disasters, his message was, “Watch out that no one deceives you” (Matthew 24:4, Mark 13:5). This is nothing new. In Genesis we read:
“You will not certainly die,” the serpent said to the woman. “For God knows that when you eat from it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil” (Genesis 3:4-5).
Here again, behind the obvious lie is the hidden, more dangerous one; your reasons for wanting this should trump God’s reasons, whatever they might be, for prohibiting it. Or, in other words, what you want is more important than what God wants.
Nor has it ended. Most of us have, at one time or another, thought, if I join in this activity I will be popular, or conversely, if I don’t participate in this, people will reject me, or even, if I don’t do what my boyfriend/girlfriend wants, they’ll leave me. And as with my argument example, the hidden lie is, other people should control what I do. The first part doesn’t even necessarily have to be a lie. Maybe people will reject me if I don’t do what they do. But even if it is a lie and I really can be accepted without doing whatever it is, that’s still just a red herring. If I base my actions on whether or not others will reject me, the devil wins.
Or how about, if I donate to this ministry/pursue this career/spend my time doing this thing, I might not have enough left to support my family,” which implies, what I do should be controlled by my ability to prepare for the future.
Or this one: if I do this, I’ll finally be able to get that one thing (or person) I’ve been longing for,” which is to say, I should let my actions be controlled by my most intense feelings.
This doesn’t require special theological training. The lies that the devil uses to attack don’t involve a precise knowledge of Biblical languages or splitting doctrinal hairs. As you might have noticed, in all of my examples, the hidden lie involves letting myself be controlled by something other than the Spirit of God. That’s not an accident. The freedom I have in Christ is the freedom to submit to God and, in that way, to actually be the man I was created to be. Submitting to anything else is slavery (Romans 6:15-23), even if it’s to my own passions. No, especially if it’s to my own passions.
This, then, is the true face of spiritual warfare. Not power encounters with demons, but deception within my own mind. And I fight it by living in the truth (John 8:32), by submitting to God’s righteousness (Romans 6:18), by letting the peace of God fill me (Philippians 4:6-7), by holding on to faith (1 Timothy 1:18-19), by continuing to grow up in my salvation (1 Peter 2:2-3), by ordering my life according to every word spoken by God (Matthew 4:4), and by devoting myself to prayer (Colossians 4:2). The same instructions Paul gives in Ephesians 6:10-18.
I’ve encountered supernatural evil a few dozen times in my life. I’ve contended with lying thoughts thousands of times. Pretty much every day, in fact. I suspect that everyone reading this has as well. This is where your greatest battles will be fought and won, or lost. And the question is always, who is my Lord? Will I be ruled by my own desires, by other people, by circumstances? Or will I be ruled by Christ. That’s not a one-and-done decision, but a choice I must make every day. Therefore, I fight against the deceiver every day. And I don’t always win. Sometimes I believe the lie. For a while, anyway, until God, once again, rescues me, forgives me, and reminds me of what I already know. And one surprising discovery I’ve made is that believing the truth is one of those things that I get better at with practice. I’m willing to bet that you will too.
1. Comer, John Mark
2021 Live No Lies: Recognize and Resist the Three Enemies That Sabotage Your Peace. WaterBrook, Colorado Springs, page 57.