Weapons of the Spirit

Session One: “Know Your Enemy!”

(Note: This is part of a Lenten series which I am currently offering at St. Joseph’s Catholic Church, my parish in Raleigh, NC.  If you would like to have this series done as a retreat in your area, please contact me!)

Millions of people think that Satan, (aka, “the devil”), is a figment of human imagination; a non-existent being akin to orcs, goblins, and elves. They are mistaken. Holy Scripture, from Genesis to Revelation, clearly teaches that Satan does exist. One has only to read the daily papers, or watch the evening news, to know that Satan exists and is as active today as he ever was in the past. Of all the enemies the human race has – especially those members of the human race who are part of the Church, the Body of Christ – this Enemy is the most dangerous.

The Catechism of the Catholic Church leaves no doubt about the truth of the existence of Satan, and of his works, and of his ways:

391   Behind the disobedient choice of our first parents lurks a seductive voice, opposed to God, which makes them fall into death out of envy.²⁶⁶ Scripture and the Church’s Tradition see in this being a fallen angel, called “Satan” or the “devil”.²⁶⁷ The Church teaches that Satan was at first a good angel, made by God: “The devil and the other demons were indeed created naturally good by God, but they became evil by their own doing.”²⁶⁸

392   Scripture speaks of a sin of these angels.²⁶⁹ This “fall” consists in the free choice of these created spirits, who radically and irrevocably rejected God and his reign. We find a reflection of that rebellion in the tempter’s words to our first parents: “You will be like God.”²⁷⁰ The devil “has sinned from the beginning”; he is “a liar and the father of lies”.²⁷¹ _______________________________________________________________________________________ 

 266  Cf. Gen 3:1-5; Wis 2:24.   267   Cf Jn 8:44; Rev 12:9.   268  Lateran Council IV (1215): DS 800.   269  Cf. 2 Pet 2:4.   270  Gen 3:5.   271  1 Jn 3:8; Jn 8:44.

 His Name

The name Satan means _______________________ (“devil” means __________________________)

When this word is used as a proper noun, it describes the chief of the fallen spirits, the most malevolent adversary of God and man, (Jn 1:6, 12; 2:1; Zech. 3:1), hostile to everything good or pure.

 His Aliases & Titles:

Matt. 12:24          “B_____________________” (means ______________________________________)*

John 8:44 (two)   “a murderer” and the “F___________________________________________”

John 14:30           “the ______________________________________________________________”

2 Cor. 4:4            “the ____________________________of this world”

2 Cor. 6:15           “Belial” (In common use, a Hebrew word for  “ __________________________” )

Eph 2:2                “the P______________________________________________________________”

Rev. 9:11 (two names)

                              “A_________________________” (means ______________________________)

                               “A_________________________” (means ______________________________)

                              (This passage also refers to him as “the angel of ___________________________” )

Rev. 12:10            “A __________________________________________________ “

Rev. 20:2             “the D_________________, the A______________________________”

 

His Origin

Nowhere does Holy Scripture specifically explain the origin of Satan, but two passages that biblical scholars often point two as possible “poetic” descriptions are: Isaiah 14:12-15 and  Ezekiel 29:12-19  (Look up both passages, read them together.  What words or phrases suggest to you that the prophets are talking to someone “beyond” the person they are addressing?)

  If these passages do disclose something to us about the origin of Satan, what do you “sense” might have happened? What was the root of his sin?

His Personality

Satan is a real, spiritual, being – a “person” in the same way the Holy Spirit is a “person.” Sacred Scripture teaches that he has:

      1. (2 Cor 11:3)  _____________________________;

      2. (2 Tim 2:26)  _____________________________; and,

      3. (Rev. 12:10)  _____________________________.

Furthermore, he is treated by God as a morally responsible being, not an impersonal power or thing, who of his own “free will” chose to rebel against God, and will suffer the due punishment. (Matt. 25:41, see also CCC par. 392-393)

 His Strategy

Satan is totally obsessed with hatred for the Almighty and all things holy and good. He never tires of trying to get others join him in his rebellion against the authority of the Almighty God, the Holy One. By his deceit, he lured Adam and Eve into sin against God, thereby stealing their innocence from them, and making them – and all their descendents – his slaves.  Every redeemed child of God who has confessed faith in Christ, all who have been baptized in the name of the Triune God, marked with the Cross and indwelt by the Holy Spirit, have been released from his dominion (Col. 1:13) – and have entered the battle against him. (cf. Liturgy for the Sacrament of Holy Baptism)

 Satan’s battle-plan is simple, but deadly:

1.      To lure people into sin (Genesis 3:1-12), and make them his slaves ( John 8:34).

2.      To oppose, hinder, and counterfeit the plan of God. (Daniel 10:10-14;  Rev. 13:1-10)

3.      To blind the minds of unbelievers, and snatch the Word of God from their heart.                (2 Cor. 4:4;  Luke 18:2)

4.      To deceive and destroy believers, (2 Cor. 11:14;  I Pet 5:8), tempting them to sin and to shipwreck their faith. (Acts 5:3;  Heb 3:12-13;  2^nd Tim. 4:9-10a;  1^st Tim 1:18,19)

 BUT… and this is crucial to remember: “The power of Satan is, nonetheless, not infinite. He is only a creature, powerful from the fact that he is pure spirit, but still a creature. He cannot prevent the building up of God’s reign. Although Satan may act in the world out of hatred for God and his kingdom in Christ Jesus, and although his action may cause grave injuries - of a spiritual nature and, indirectly, even of a physical nature- to each man and to society, the action is permitted by divine providence which with strength and gentleness guides human and cosmic history. It is a great mystery that providence should permit diabolical activity, but “we know that in everything God works for good with those who love him.”²⁷⁵ “  (CCC 395)  275 Rom 8:28.

 His Ultimate End

Though he is a spiritual being of enormous power, cunning, and wrath, the Devil is NOT equal with God. He is not invincible. He can be - and, in fact, has been – defeated, and faces eternal punishment.

1.      Judgment pronounced in Eden (Gen. 3:14-15)

2.      Judgment prophesied by Christ ( Luke 10:18)

3.      Judgment sealed at the Cross (John 12:31,32)

4.      Cast into the Lake of Fire at the end of time. (Rev. 20:10)