Never underestimate the power of Satan. He is deceitful; he is a destroyer. The devil has deceived every man that ever lived, since the beginning of time!
No one has ever escaped his mighty grasp—no one that is, except Jesus. The greatest of men have fallen to Satan’s tricks; the greatest generals, conquerors of the world, have all fallen to the wooing and the whispers of Satan. Yes, he will woo you; he will seduce you; he will pretend to be your friend, and then attempt to crush you with a mighty blow.
He will draw you in, and then, when you begin to think you can trust him. He’ll close the net on you, and destroy you socially, spiritually, and physically. Never, never underestimate the power of the devil.
Let’s see what the Bible says vs. what man teaches about this: Keep in mind that there have been men on this earth much greater than any of us here, and if Satan deceived them, what chances have we against him? We like to think that we will not fall to his tricks like those other men did; we think it won’t happen to us, and that we will come out on top; beware! Friend, that is exactly where Satan wants you; he can deceive you easier when you are over confident. Consider with me a moment: Adam, in a perfect environment, was deceived into eating the forbidden fruit that God commanded him not to eat, nor to even touch!
He was in Paradise; He had complete fellowship with the Father; He walked in luxury every day, and had complete rest in the Lord, but nevertheless, he fell to the clutches of Satan. Men, Adam’s environment didn’t help him; today men think that if we change the scenery, and put a man in a better neighborhood, or a better city, or if we give him better things, that he will become a model citizen. It doesn’t work! Adam proved that to us.
Consider Samson, the strongest man that ever lived. He slew a thousand men with the jawbone of a jackass; He wrought havoc on the Philistines and single-handedly slew a multitude of them without any effort at all; He carried the pillars of the city on his shoulders, and yet, he fell to the charms of a woman. Satan got him! Samson’s strength wasn’t enough to deliver him from the devil’s evil grasp; he became a wretched example of what not to be instead of what a man should be, and could be.
He became a casualty instead of a “hero”. You cannot depend on your own strength to save you.
David, a mighty warrior, a man after God’s own heart, also fell to the wiles of the devil. Here the most noble of all men, a feared man, a king, fell to Satan’s deception. David may have been one of the most humble men this world has ever known, but that didn’t keep him from sin. David showed that nobility and fame is not enough; He committed adultery, and deceptively murdered a man because Satan got hold of him too. Here was a king! Here was a majestic, powerful king that was fooled by the deception of the devil, and used to promote evil in the kingdom.
Earthly power and fame will not keep you from sin Solomon; the wisest man that ever lived also fell to the courting and the wooing of Satan. Solomon was not only the wisest, but the richest man in the world in his time, and yet he too caved in, and became a tool in the hand of Satan. Even great wisdom was not enough to out fox the devil. Friends don’t think you’ll outsmart him and beat him at his own game, because you won’t—you can’t, not on your own at least.
Each of these great men in the Bible was seduced by Satan, and he used women to accomplish his evil deed! They all fell to the charms of a woman. Men, be careful; be very careful; Satan will get you at your most vulnerable point, the lust of the flesh. We are all subject to it, and we are all under the spell in produces at some time or another. The dirty rotten devil will use anything at his disposal to win you over to him, and only Jesus can make the difference for you. We are talking about purity. Purity cannot be achieved without Christ. No one can do it on his own.
Furthermore, Alexander the Great, the conqueror of the known world at the time, died a miserable death, betrayed by his subordinates; He is now swallowed up in history. Napoleon, one of the greatest generals of all time, died a lost man most likely, unfulfilled of his dream to conquer the world. Hitler, the bane of the western world, supposedly committed suicide, and was never heard from again. He too was deceived by the devil. All great men have died as the poor man dies, and their money, their fame, their wisdom, their families--nothing could keep them from the defeat of death. Every man is led to a life of debauchery and ill-fame by the subtleness of Satan. Death is waiting for all the living; it is waiting for you and me. Only Jesus Christ can save us.
Michael Peterson
