Satan attacked the Kingdom of Heaven and Archangel Michael defeated satan and the angels who followed him. Michael kicked them out of heaven and down-to-earth Rev 12:7-9. Satan, the prince of the world, now rules both earth and demons. Mat 12:24, Joh 14:30. He is the God of this world and the principal cause and ruler of the darkness in the hearts and minds of people 2 Cor 4:4.
Eph 6:12 For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places.
Satan and his demons now defeated are bound by chains in spiritual darkness (without the light of God) Jude 1:6. These chains limit their power on earth and no longer have free access to heaven. Their power is limited to spiritual influence, urgings, and provoking men into sin Eph 2:2,3. There are invisible demonic forces that promote lies, pride, greed, maliciousness, and sexual filth and the like. These evil spiritual forces are in the surrounding atmosphere, watching and looking for every advantage against us Eph 6:12. They encourage sin whenever and wherever. They already have victory over the world and those without Jesus Christ. From the start, they infiltrated Christianity and have compromised the faith of many who have not continued to grow in knowledge of the truth of God.
Satan’s tactics have changed little since the beginning:
Satan the father of Lies
Satan attacks with lies, he is the father of lies John 8:44. If he quotes scripture he has an ulterior motive. In Gen 3:4 he misquoted God while tempting Eve, and she was tricked and died. When he tempted Jesus, he quoted scripture correctly but misapplied it (deceit), trying to tempt Jesus by appealing to his hunger and to the glory Jesus had before being born in flesh Luk 4:1-13.
Satan is an Imitator
The deceiver will masquerade as a “good person”, friend, believer 2 Cor 11:13-15. Satan attacks as a pretender, a fraud, to appeal to you. Demons will influence people to give the appearance of righteousness, but they serve their own selfish desires while doing the bidding of the tempter. Be on guard, prove all things, keep watch.
Demons are Fraudulent
He is a counterfeiter; he is a sower of fake believers and plants them among the true believers. Jesus used the parable to show how the enemy sows weeds (false Christians) alongside the wheat (believers). But at the harvesting, the owner will cut and burn the weeds Mat 13:24-30; Mat 13:38,39. There was a demon possessed man who sat in church and screamed at Jesus “leave us alone” Luke 4:33. Today the enemy thrives in many churches, among believers to weaken, confuse and destroy them.
Satan the Destroyer
Demons will destroy the work and faith of believers who are not wholly committed to Jesus by filling their hearts Luk 22:3; Act 5:3 even causing horrible acts of violence and betrayal. The spiritually ignorant will rationally explain the violence; but behind the scene the root cause are the works and tactics of the enemy.
Satan the Oppressor
Satan attacks with illness and disease. Spiritual darkness was prevalent in Jesus’s day, and demonically oppressed people with physical and mental diseases was common. Spiritual darkness is running rampant today causing: cancer, bipolar, schizophrenia and a myriad of other illnesses. Science has many names and various band-aids for them. But the root cause is spiritual darkness produced by demons or sin induced by demons Luk 13:16; Mat 8:16. Jesus cast out the devils and healed all folks with the power of His word.
The schemes and subtle tricks of the devil and his followers are too many to mention here. It’s more important for you to be constantly aware and on guard. The enemy will not stop until Jesus returns. He knows he has only a short time left, so he is now going all out to bring down believers by destroying our faith in the truth. Be blessed!