Satan's Ministers

Satan at Work Today

“For such are false apostles, deceitful workers, transforming themselves into the apostles of Christ. And no marvel; for Satan himself is transformed into an angel of light. Therefore it is no great thing if his ministers also be transformed as the ministers of righteousness; whose end shall be according to their works.” (2 Corinthians 11:13-15) How is Satan usually pictured today? In my experience he is usually portrayed in a human form, dressed in a red suit with horns on his head and holding a pitchfork. According to Paul that is not at all how Satan appears. Just as he disguised his true form to Eve, he does the same thing today. Just imagine: Satan is transformed into an angel of light! Rather than being easily identified for who he is, he could be confused for an angel sent from God! But Paul doesn’t stop there. He tells us Satan has people working for him, and these people are also hiding their true forms. They appear to be ministers of righteousness but in reality are ministers of Satan. How does one identify a true minister of righteousness from a minister of Satan masquerading as a minister of righteousness? One must listen to what they say! Satan’s ministers will use the same deceptive tactics of their master. They’ll quote God’s commandments, change the consequence of disobedience, and give an explanation for why God really doesn’t mean what it seems like He means.

In our study of the force of sin we briefly considered the possibility of having our minds corrupted from the simplicity in Christ Jesus (2 Corinthians 11:3). Let’s think for a moment about verses three and four of that chapter: “But I fear, lest by any means, as the serpent beguiled Eve through his subtilty, so your minds should be corrupted from the simplicity that is in Christ. For if he that cometh preacheth another Jesus, whom we have not preached, or if ye receive another spirit, which ye have not received, or another gospel, which ye have not accepted, ye might well bear with him.” Here are Satan’s ministers at work. They preach another Jesus, another spirit or another gospel, different than that preached by Paul. When we accept what they preach the result is the corruption of our minds from the simplicity in Christ Jesus. As we apply what we’ve learned in this study we’ll look at a specific example of Satan’s ministers at work.

Satan at Work Today: Summary

Man’s greatest enemy hasn’t changed. Today his tactics are no different than they were with his first recorded deception in the Garden of Eden. His ministers use the same tactics, too. By knowing how he works, understanding the difference between the force of sin and the act of sin, and recognizing our vulnerabilities we can be ready to win the spiritual battle for our souls. In the final section of this study let’s apply what we’ve learned about Satan and ourselves.