The history of the human race is simply the history of the never ending battle between God and the devil and between the devil and the human race until the devil is once and forever defeated.

The Bible begins with the first skirmish of the battle in the Garden of Eden as recorded in Genesis 3 and concludes with the devil’s final defeat in Revelation 20:10.

You are personally involved in this battle whether you are saved or not and whether you know it or not. It is a battle concerning truth and life. Jesus described the devil in John 8:44 by saying, “He was a murderer from the beginning, never holding to the truth, for there is no truth in him. Lying is his native language, for he is a liar and the father of lies.”

Today I begin a brief series of articles on the theme, “Simple Truth about the devil.” In 2 Corinthians 2:11 the Apostle Paul said, “Satan must not be allowed to get the victory here, for we are not ignorant of his devices, schemes or battle plans.” The devil wants us to be ignorant of his schemes. We have no excuse for such ignorance because the Bible gives us simple and adequate truth from beginning to end.

Let’s begin with one simple truth: the devil never changes. It was the same with our first parents, Adam and Eve, as it is in 2009 and will be to the end of the battle. Consider his scheme in the Garden of Eden. (1) The devil presented himself in an attractive and subtle package. (2) The devil magnified the forbidden and tempted them to doubt the goodness and love of God. (3) The devil tempted them to doubt the truth of the word of God, saying, “You will not surely die.” (4) The devil made them doubt that they could truly be happy and obey God at the same time. (5) The devil led them to disobey God and not believe His word. Of course on every point the devil was a liar and to believe and follow his lies led to death: Spiritual death immediately and physical death finally.

Please give some thought to each of the five points of the devil’s scheme in the previous paragraph. First, do you see that the devil uses each of these five ways to defeat you? Then think about the deteriorating society in our nation. Do you see the devil using the same lying schemes to produce life lived under deception and separated from God?

Now let’s go to the final word about the devil in the Bible. Revelation 20:10 says, “And the devil who deceived them was cast into the lake of burning sulfur and will be tormented day and night for ever and ever.” He will not change. He will be in the lying, deceiving and death bringing business until his ultimate defeat.

There is no “new heaven and new earth” (Revelation 21) until “the deceiver and the deceived” are cast away from God forever (Revelation 20). In direct opposition to the devil, Jesus said, “I am the true and living way” and “I am come that they might have eternal life and abundant life.”

“He was manifested that He might destroy the works of the devil” in us who place our trust upon Him.