The seven points of the devil (The devil’s seven)

1. The devil is an angelic personality. He is also a genius, smarter than any human being or creature who ever lived. He is also very attractive and has a beautiful voice. Isaiah 14:12-17; Ezekiel 28:11-19 gives us a total picture of Satan as a personality, a person of the highest possible mentality. Here and there other passages tell us other things about Satan. He is the biggest liar that God ever stuck a soul in. He is the father of lies — John 8:44. He is also a murderer — 1 John 3:8. He is the highest ruler of the authority of the atmosphere.

2. The devil is the ruler of this world — Luke 4:5-7; John 12:31; 14:30; 16:11; 2 Corinthians 4:4; Ephesians 2:2.

3. As the ruler of this world Satan has strategy regarding the nations. Satan is anti-nationalism; he despises nationalism. Nationalism frustrates the function of his rulership. Nationalism is a part of the laws of divine establishment to preserve human freedom in the devil’s kingdom — Revelation 12:9; 20:3,8. In order to rule the world Satan has to have strategy, he has to function on principles. For example, the two greatest enemies of Satan in ruling the world are Bible doctrine and the laws of divine establishment. So Satan counterattacks with religion. Religion is designed to neutralise doctrine. He counterattacks with revolution. Revolution is a Satanic device to neutralise the laws of divine establishment. That is why all revolutionists in their doctrine are internationalists and anti-nationalism. Nationalism frustrates Satan’s function on the earth. Nationalism is a part of the laws of divine establishment and basically it includes: a) the military establishment to protect the freedom of the nation involved. This immediately knocks out the possibility of any Christian being a conscientious objector; b) law plus a police system. This is one of the most important foundations for the preservation of privacy, rights and freedoms; c) free enterprise, with no government interference.

Religion is man by man’s efforts seeking to gain the approbation of God. It is working, man’s plans, man’s devices, superimposed upon God. The devil is the author of religion, the author of revolution, the author of internationalism, it is all a part of his strategy as the ruler of the world.

4. Since everyone is born into the world as an unbeliever and spiritually dead we are born citizens of Satan’s kingdom. Spiritual death is the citizenship papers in cosmos diabolicus. Therefore the devil has to have strategy with regard to people. He has to do everything possible to keep people unbelievers. It is the devil’s objective that no one believe in Jesus Christ. Luke 8:12; 2 Corinthians 4:3,4; 2 Thessalonians 2:9,10; Colossians 2:8.

5. Therefore when a person believes in Christ the devil doesn’t give up on them. They are members of the family of God and in God’s plan and totally separated from Satan’s plan. So the devil has to have strategy regarding believers — 2 Corinthians 2:1.

There are seven strategies:

a) The devil’s strategy is to accuse believers. The devil is always embarrassed about sin. What he tries to do in his kingdom is what God produced in innocence. So one of his objectives is to ignore sin with all unbelievers and to make a great stir about the sins of believers. Satan makes an accusation about the sins of believers to God the Father. God the Son is seated at the right hand of the Father and at that point Jesus Christ takes on a new role which is very closely related to His celebrityship. He acts as the believer’s defense attorney immediately and presents the case that every sin that the devil mentions has already been judged. Law of double jeopardy: you can’t be judged twice for the same offense. So Jesus Christ mentions that. God the Father as the judge throws the case out of court. Revelation 12:9,10; Job 1:6-11; Zechariah 3:1,2; 1 John 2:1,2.

b) It is Satan’s objective to sponsor reversionism. The devil has been working for a long time to get one whole generation of believers in reversionism. 1 Corinthians 10:19-21. The devil has a communion table and it is designed to sponsor reversionism. This communion table is for reversionists. 2 Corinthians 11:3,13-15. Illustration: 1 Chronicles 21.

c) It is the strategy of the devil with regard to believers to frustrate the will of God in the believer’s life. The will of God is categorised and classified in three ways: mental, operational, and geographical. Mental will of God: What does He want me to think? Operational will of God: What does he want me to do? Geographical will of God: Where does He want me to be? It is the Satanic objective to frustrate all three categories. The mental — Ephesians 4:14, he tries to frustrate divine viewpoint. Operational — James 4:7,8. Geographical — 1 Thessalonians 2:18.

d) It is the strategy of the devil to neutralise the believer’s soul through worry and anxiety — 1 Peter 5:7-9.

e) It is Satan’s objective to obscure the focus of the believer — occupation with Christ or the supergrace life. He does this in three ways: getting eyes on self — 1 Kings 19:10; getting eyes on people — Jeremiah 17:5; getting eyes on things — Hebrew 13:5,6.

f) It is the Satanic objective to involve the believer in humanistic, temporal solutions to man’s problems so that divine solutions are obscured and excluded, e.g. the so-called social gospel (social action).

g) To instill in believers a fear of death — Hebrews 2:14,15.

6. Religion as a Satanic system. The basic principle of religion is to counterfeit what God has done. There are nine different counterfeits in religion:

a) Counterfeit gospel — 2 Corinthians 11:3,4.

b) Counterfeit ministers — 2 Corinthians 11:13-15.

c) Counterfeit doctrine — 2 Timothy 4:1.

d) Counterfeit communion table — 1 Corinthians 10:19-21.

e) Counterfeit righteousness — Matthew 19:16-28.

f) Counterfeit modus vivendi — Matthew 23. (Whitewashed tombstones)

g) Counterfeit power — 2 Thessalonians 2:8-10.

h) Counterfeit gods — 2 Thessalonians 2:3,4.

7. False teachers and false teaching is a part of the devil’s strategy.

a) False teachers always have a phony facade — Matthew 7:15; Romans 16:18. This facade is a kind of Maddison Avenue presentation to impress people.

b) False teachers court believers — Galatians 4:17,18; 2 Timothy 3:5-7.

c) False teachers always appeal to human pride — 2 Corinthians 10:12.

d) False teachers like to promote idolatry because it is a quick way to demon possession — Habakkuk 2:18,19.

e) False teachers often promote legalism — 1 Timothy 1:7,8.

f) False teachers will continue throughout the cosmic era of Satan’s rulership — 1 John 4:1.

Next to the lie itself, the greatest delusion Satan imposes — reaching to all unsaved

and to a large proportion of Christians — is the supposition that only such things as society considers evil could originate with the devil — if, indeed, there be any devil to originate anything. It is not the reason of man, but the revelation of God, which points out that governments, morals, education, art, commercialism, vast enterprises and organisations, and much of religious activity are included in the cosmos diabolicus. That is, the system which Satan has constructed includes all the good which he can incorporate into it and be consistent in the thing he aims to accomplish. A serious question arises whether the presence of gross evil in the world is due to Satan’s intention to have it so, or whether it indicates Satan’s inability to execute all he has designed. The probability is great that Satan’s ambition has led him to undertake more than any creature could ever administer. Revelation declares that the whole cosmos-system must be annihilated — not its evil alone, but all that is in it, both good and bad. God will incorporate nothing of Satan’s failure into that kingdom which He will set up in the earth.

Lewis Sperry Chafer, “Systematic Theology", vol. 2 , PP 100-101