Reading: Video Transcript: Strategies

Hello, and welcome back to this series of classes on Spiritual Warfare. This is Session 13, and you'll notice the title has finally changed. We're moving from identifying our enemy—as we’ve been doing—to focusing today on his strategies and schemes, the way he tends to work.

As we looked at his names, we’ve already seen something of who he is. Now, since we’re at a turning point in this course, I want to do a little bit of a recap.

We’ve been trying to identify who our enemy is. We began by talking, if you remember, about the idea that principle number one is: know your enemy. And so, as we’ve looked at the names given to him in Scripture, we’ve seen something of his character—something of the way he acts.

He is Satan, or the adversary, and we’ve looked at the various ways he comes against God’s plan. But we also saw that he comes against God’s people, for sure.

His goal is to kill, steal, and destroy. And so, yes, he is an adversary of God—but he’s also our adversary.

We saw that he’s called the evil one, which means he is the apex—he is the consummation—of evil. And so, wherever you see evil in the world, know that he has a hand in that.

He's also called the Devil, or the slanderer. He’s the one who whispers, who stirs up gossip, who has us talking behind each other’s backs—and as a result, bringing people down.

We saw that he is the accuser. He’s the one who picks at our failures, especially in our own minds. So instead of resting in God’s grace, we lose the joy of our salvation. We forget about God's mercy, and we just feel guilty or unworthy. And that guilt can limit us from being as effective as we could be in God’s kingdom.

We saw that he’s called Beelzebul, or Lord of the Flies. Now there are different interpretations of that name, but likely it means he’s the god of decay. Where do you find flies? You find flies where things are rotting—where decay and filth have gathered. Where you see chaos, breakdown, and degradation, that’s where Satan is at work.

We also saw that he’s the tempter—someone actively working in your life and mine to bring us to sin, to trip us up, to lure us away from God and toward him.

Then we saw that he’s called the prince of this world. That term suggests he has a kind of structured influence—a system or order he manipulates. He’s not the king, but he is a prince, someone who controls the direction of this world.

And I mentioned in that last lecture that the course of the world tends toward degradation. That’s not just a spiritual idea—even scientists recognize this. It's the second law of thermodynamics: everything tends toward decay. Well, Satan—the prince of this world—is deeply involved in that process. When you look at society in general, you'll see that things tend to fall apart, to drift away from God’s design. That’s his influence.

Now, with all of that as background, we’re going to look at how this character operates. This person—this adversary—with all these attributes, how does he come against us? How does he come against the kingdom of God?

We’ve seen some hints of that through his names, but now we’ll go deeper—into his strategies and schemes. And what we’ll find is this: we have a very smart, capable, and challenging enemy. And we need to be aware of what he’s doing—and how.

So let’s get going.

The first scheme—or strategy—he uses is subtlety. In other words, he doesn’t usually come with a direct, obvious attack.

We read in Scripture:
“Now the serpent was more crafty than any of the wild animals the Lord God had made.”

This is from Genesis, chapter three. Once again, we’ve looked at that passage several times.

“He said to the woman, ‘Did God really say, you must not eat from any tree in the garden?’”

Now, notice—he’s not coming with a frontal attack on the woman, trying to convince her outright to take the fruit. Instead, he’s subtle. He comes in from the side. He comes from the background.

You know, I’ve met some people like that—where if you ask them a direct question, they’ll give you a sideways answer.

I remember once buying a used car. It looked like a great deal—the price was right, and it only had 31,000 miles on it. I was excited. But it turned out to be a total trouble bucket. The very first day I had it, the brakes went out. And then, one problem after another.

Eventually, I found out the people who sold it to me were running a racket. They were buying former fleet cars and turning back the odometers. Now back in those days, you could actually do that—physically roll them back. And so, while I thought it had 31,000 miles, it actually had over 150,000. I ended up getting a call later from someone who told me I’d been the victim of white-collar crime.

And here’s what I remember: when I was talking to the salesperson, he never gave me a direct answer. He didn’t lie outright, but he said things like, “Oh, this car was driven locally, it was gently used…”—he painted a picture. He was subtle. He was crafty.

That’s the kind of tactic the enemy uses. Not always a direct assault—but subtle doubt, subtle deception.

Here’s another verse that makes this point. It’s from Ephesians chapter six—and we’ll look at this more closely in a few sessions:

“Put on the whole armor of God, so that you may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil.”

Isn’t that an interesting phrase? The wiles of the devil.

In other words, the sneaky tactics. Trying to find a back door. Trying to find a weak point. Trying to lure us in through trickery.

Now when I was a kid, there was a cartoon—and it’s still around, I watch it sometimes with my grandkids. It’s the Road Runner cartoon. It’s a unique show because there’s no talking at all. Just action.

And there’s the Road Runner, and then there’s Wile E. Coyote. And Wile E. is always trying to catch the Road Runner. He sets traps, uses gadgets, disguises, puts out bait. He’s always coming up with these elaborate, wily schemes. Of course, it always backfires on him. That’s the humor of it—he never succeeds.

But when it comes to our enemy? Things don’t always backfire. His wiles can work. His subtlety can deceive.

That’s why we have to be aware. That’s why we need the armor. That’s why we’re learning who our enemy is and how he operates.

He’s subtle. He’s crafty. And he doesn’t usually come with a frontal assault. Now, on occasion, he will—especially in cases of what we’ll talk about later: things like demonization. But most often, he’s coming in from the side. Quietly. Indirectly.

He plants a doubt. He raises a question.

You know, I grew up with a very simple worldview. I was brought up as a Christian. I was raised to believe the Bible, and I had no questions about that whatsoever.

And then—well, then we got to the James Webb Telescope.

Now, if you’re not familiar with that, the James Webb Telescope is this incredible space observatory planted about a million miles from Earth. And it's sending back these stunning, crystal-clear pictures of the universe—images of light that's traveled somewhere between 5.1 and 5.9 billion light-years to reach us.

A light-year, by the way, is the distance light travels in a year. Light moves at about 186,000 miles per second. Multiply that by 60 seconds in a minute, 60 minutes in an hour, 24 hours in a day, 365 days in a year... it’s a number beyond comprehension. And now imagine billions of those years.

So here I am, looking at these images—looking at these unfathomable distances—and I have to admit, it kind of blew my mind.

And then a subtle question started forming in the back of my mind. I wasn’t doubting God’s existence—far from it. But I began to wonder:

If God is that big…
If He is that vast…
If He’s still out there, in regions of space we call “The Pillars of Creation,” still forming stars—
If He’s doing all that...

Then how could a God so vast… care about me?

Just one little person among billions on Earth…
Living on one small planet…
In one small solar system…
In one small galaxy…
In the endless cosmos.

And that’s where the enemy’s tactic came in—not with a sledgehammer, but with a whisper:

“You really think God cares about you?”

That’s subtlety. That’s craftiness.

So don’t just look for the obvious attacks. Yes, be alert, be a watchman—as we’ve talked about—but also be aware of the quiet questions, the subtle intrusions, the little suggestions that erode our sense of God’s love and presence.

Because he’s wily.

Now, another tactic we see in Scripture: he sets traps.

Here’s a verse from 1 Timothy 3, where Paul is giving advice on how to select elders in the church:

“He must also have a good reputation with outsiders, so that he will not fall into disgrace and into the devil’s trap.”

Did you catch that?

The devil’s trap.

In other words, the enemy isn’t just setting random snares. He’s laying traps strategically—to disgrace the church, to discredit its leaders, to destroy its witness.

We’ll explore more of these schemes in coming sessions. But as we continue: remember this—your enemy is cunning. He doesn’t just want to confront you. He wants to trip you when you're unaware. To plant the doubt when your guard is down.

So stay alert. And stay armored. And so when you’re looking for someone to serve in leadership, they’ve got to have a good reputation. If they don’t, there’s the opportunity for a trap to be set—and for someone to fall into that trap.

LifeWay Research reports that a majority of unchurched Americans are actually willing to hear what people have to say about Christianity. But here’s the challenge: they also see the church as a place full of hypocrites.

Now, I know that next sentence on the slide might not show up very clearly, so let me read it to you: 72% of the people interviewed said they believe the church is full of hypocrites.

Let’s pause there. What is a hypocrite?

The word “hypocrite” comes from the ancient Greek word for an actor—literally, someone who speaks from under a mask. In the world of ancient theater, actors would switch characters by putting on different masks. So a hypocrite is someone who is pretending—someone who appears to be one thing but is, in fact, something else.

So when someone is acting very, very spiritual—and then you get a glimpse behind the mask and see something very different—that’s hypocrisy.

And I’ve seen that happen in my lifetime. I’ve also experienced what it means when people are judgmental or when they put on a false front. And sadly, that’s what a lot of people outside the church are seeing. It damages the witness of Christ.

This point is also emphasized in unChristian, a book by David Kinnaman. He documents how many young adults, especially those outside the church, see Christians as judgmental, hypocritical, and out of touch.

That’s why it’s so important to choose leaders carefully—to look not only at their gifting, but at their reputation and character.

Because when leaders fall into disgrace—especially because of a lack of authenticity—it’s not just their fall. It becomes the devil’s trap for discrediting the church as a whole.

They looked at unchurched Americans—so this research represents the wider cultural perception of Christianity here in the United States. What do they see? They see Christians as judgmental, hypocritical, and too political—like we’re more invested in political systems than in people. They think we don’t really care about them as individuals, but that we’re just out to get “scalps for Jesus”—just trying to make conversions rather than truly loving people.

They see us acting unChristian. Our attitudes often don’t reflect who Jesus is or what He taught. That’s why it’s so important that leaders in the church have a good reputation—that they demonstrate sound character, Christlike character.Because Satan is actively setting traps. And those traps are aimed at our weaknesses.

If the enemy can get a Christian—especially a leader—to fall, there’s going to be a ripple effect. The fall of a leader has exponential impact. That’s why I used that image up there—because when one falls, many are affected.

This happened in a very public way during my teenage and early adult years. Some of the most prominent Christian leaders in America—visible figures on national television—fell into sin.

There was Jimmy Swaggart, who was caught in scandal involving a prostitute. There was Jim Bakker, who had a tryst with a secretary and misused funds for lavish living. Now I believe both of these men started out well. But somewhere along the line, a trap was set—and they fell into it.

And the ripple effects were massive. People began turning away—not just from those leaders, but from the Church itself.The term “televangelist” became a punchline. Skepticism grew. And people said, “See? They’re just a bunch of hypocrites.”

In a sense, it’s true. We are all broken. We are all capable of putting on masks. But that doesn’t mean we should ignore the seriousness of these traps. The enemy is at work—and his schemes are aimed at bringing disgrace to the name of Christ through the Church.

And if you're a leader in the church, which many of you are if you're taking this course, then you need to be extra vigilant. Traps will be set. The enemy is watching. He's not just attacking your behavior—he's after your character.

So how else does the enemy work?

He takes all those names we've explored—adversary, slanderer, accuser, tempter—and he uses them to stir up schism and division.

Now, sadly, that’s something the Church has become known for. Division. Splits. Fragmentation. We divide over doctrine, over worship styles, over secondary issues.

I put up some historical examples. Here’s one: the Peg vs. No Peg churches. This goes back to the days of the circuit riders—preachers who traveled by horse from one town to the next. One church put up a peg to hang the preacher’s coat. Another group thought that was far too fancy. And what happened? They split. One became the “Peg Church.” The other became the “No Peg Church.” Right across the street from each other.

Then there’s the debate over how to say the Lord’s Prayer—“forgive us our trespasses” or “forgive us our sins.” That caused division.

And of course, there are theological divisions. Are you Calvinist or Arminian? Reformed or Pentecostal?

That’s why, when I moved to Western Michigan in 2006, it was such a blessing to find a group of 24 pastors—from Roman Catholic to Pentecostal—who met monthly to pray together. Just to pray. For each other. For their churches. That’s not something I had experienced much before. So often, we keep our distance. “Oh, you’re Nazarene? Then we can’t partner with you.” Or, “You’re not part of our denomination? Then we can’t work together.”

It’s heartbreaking. And it’s not new.

Paul addressed this in 1 Corinthians. He said:

“What I mean is this: One of you says, ‘I follow Paul’; another, ‘I follow Apollos’; another, ‘I follow Cephas’; still another, ‘I follow Christ.’”

And Paul responds: “Is Christ divided? Was Paul crucified for you?”

The answer is obvious. Christ is not divided. But the Church so often is.

And that division is one of Satan’s favorite tools. It’s not just theological—it can be cultural, political, or even just plain foolish.

Let me share a story that captures this. It’s a joke, but like many jokes, it reveals something true.

A man is headed to a Halloween party out in the country, dressed in a full devil costume, makeup and all. Unfortunately, his car breaks down. It starts to rain. He runs for help and sees a light. It’s a small country church in the middle of a service. Not wanting to startle anyone, he hesitates. But a lightning bolt hits behind him, and he stumbles into the church—fully dressed as Satan.

People see him, panic, and start leaping out windows to escape. But one older woman can’t get out in time. She’s stuck. As he walks toward her, trying to explain, she looks him in the eye and says, “Don’t worry—I’ve been on your side the whole time.”

It’s a funny story. But there’s truth in it. There are people in churches who, knowingly or unknowingly, have aligned themselves with the enemy. Not through possession, but through division, judgment, pride, and a refusal to love.

We’ve just come through a global pandemic—and how many churches have split over things like whether or not to wear a mask?

I live near a church where, before a service, a fistfight broke out in the parking lot—over masks. One man scolded another, and it escalated. This is the Body of Christ?

Friends, this is how the enemy works. Through division. Through distraction. Through subtle traps.

Let’s pray.

Lord, open our eyes to the schemes of the enemy. Give us discernment. Give us unity. Give us the strength to resist division and reflect the character of Christ. In Jesus’ name, Amen.