In Genesis 3:1 we read, “Now the serpent was more subtle than any beast of the field which the Lord God had made. And he said unto the woman, Yea, hath God said, Ye shall not eat of every tree of the garden?”
In describing Satan, the serpent, as “subtle,” God gave us a warning that all generations should heed. The devil did not waltz into the garden wearing red tights, dragging a pointy tail, sporting horns, carrying a pitchfork and shouting, “I AM GOING TO RUIN YOU ALL, MUWAHAHAHA!” No, he simply began by asking what would, on the surface, appear to be just an innocent question. But that subtle beginning led to a denial of God’s words, then a questioning of his motives and ultimately the fall of mankind. And the devil has never changed his penchant for subtlety. Even when he tried to tempt Christ himself, he began the temptation by urging Christ just to make himself some bread to eat. After all, what could be more “reasonable” than that?
Paul also gave warning of the devil’s subtle strategies in 2 Corinthians 11:3, writing, “But I fear, lest by any means, as the serpent beguiled Eve through his subtlety, so your minds should be corrupted from the simplicity that is in Christ.”
All of that, combined with what I am seeing in the world and in the church world lately, has had me pondering: What are Satan’s present-day subtle strategies? If we were able to hack into his email and find his internal memos to his demons, I suspect this is what we would find.
“Greetings, loathsome underlings,