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I was going to write an article about Satan this week. I ran across a couple of pieces that are so good, that I will share them with you instead. As you read through this list, I would encourage you to read the passages associate with them and spend some time in thought on them. You will begin to see how crafty and devious Satan really is.

The first list comes originally from J.O. Sanders, Satan is No Myth, (Chicago: Moody Press, 1975), 35-36.

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• Satan has his own trinity--the devil, the beast, and the false prophet (Revelation 16:13). ·
• He has his own church, "a synagogue of Satan" (Revelation 2:9). ·
• He has his own ministers, "ministers of Satan" (2 Corinthians 11:4-5). ·
• He has formulated his own system of theology "doctrines of demons" (1 Timothy 4:1). ·
• He has established his own sacrificial system; "The Gentiles...sacrifice to demons" (1 Corinthians 10:20). ·
• He has his own communion service, "the cup of demons...and the table of demons" (1 Corinthians 10:21). ·
• His ministers proclaim his own gospel, "a gospel contrary to that which we have preached to you" (Galatians 1:7-8). ·
• He has his own throne (Revelation 13:2) and his own worshipers (Revelation 13:4). ·
• So he has developed a thorough imitation of Christianity, viewed as a system of religion. ·
• In his role as the imitator of God, he inspires false christs, self-constituted messiahs (Matthew 24:4-5). ·
• He employs false teachers who are specialists in his "theology," to bring in "destructive heresies, even denying the Master who bought them" (2 Peter 2:1). They are adept at mixing truth and error in such proportions as to make error palatable. They carry on their teaching surreptitiously and often anonymously. ·
• He sends out false prophets. "And many false prophets will arise, and will mislead many" (Matthew 24:11). ·
• He introduces false brethren into the church, who "had sneaked in to spy out our liberty...in order to bring us into bondage" (Galatians 2:4). ·
• He sponsors false apostles who imitate the true (2 Corinthians 11:13).

This second list come from my brief peruse in a concordance.

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• Matt 16:23 - Satan can work through those close to us unwittingly ·
• Luke 4:13 - The Devil waits patiently for the right time to tempt ·
• John 8:44 - Satan is a murder, a liar and the father of all lies ·
• Matt 4:1; 2 Cor 2:11; Eph 6:10-12 - Satan is a schemer ·
• 2 Cor 11:14 - Satan disguises himself ·
• 1 Peter 5:8 - The Devil is always on the prowl like a roaring lion ·
• 1 John 3:8 - The Devil sinned from the beginning ·
• 1 John 3:10 - The Children of the Devil do not love the brethren ·
• Rev 2:9 - Satan has an "exclusive" church ·
• Rev 12:9 - Satan is a deceiver, but God's angels defeat Satan ·
• 1 Cor 5:5; 1 Tim 1:20; 2 Cor 12:7 - God uses Satan for his purposes ·
• James 4:7 - The Devil can be resisted