E
COPTIC ORTHODOX
PATRIARCHATE
DIABOLIC WARS
BY
H.H. POPE SHENOUDA III
2
Title
: Diabolic Wars
Author
: H.H. Pope Shenouda III
Translated by
: Wedad Abbas
Revised by
: Dr. Angeile Botros Samaan
Professor of English (Cairo University).
Edition
: The First - August 1989
Printing
: Nubar Printing House - Cairo
Legal Deposit Ncl.
: 5416 1 1989.
Revised
: COEPA -1997
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H.H. Pope Shenouda III, 117th Pope of
Alexandria and the See of St. Mark
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TABLE OF CONTENTS
Chapter I
: The nature of diabolic wars
Chapter II
: The devil's attributes in his wars
Chapter III : The intrigues of the devil.
Chapter IV
: How to overcome diabolic wars.
Chapter V
: Benefits of diabolic wars
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HISTORY OF THIS BOOK
Many are the lectures which I delivered on "Spiritual Wars".
This part about "Diabolic Wars" is based on 9 lectures delivered
on the following dates:
1 - 2 Two lectures on "Diabolic Wars" delivered on Friday 27
March 1970, and 10 April 1970.
3 - 5 Three lectures which are contemplations on the words,
"Deliver us from the intrigues of the adversary". These
are part of my contemplations on the eleventh hour
prayer delivered on Friday 4 August 1972, 11 August
1972, and 18 August 1972.
6 A lecture on the war of the devil, delivered in Lent on
Friday evening 2 March 1973 and entitled, "We begin
and he begins with us".
7 A lecture entitled, "Get thee hence, O, Satan", delivered
in Lent of the year 1974.
8 A lecture on "spiritual Wars" delivered on the evening of
Friday 7 March 1980.
9 Selections from some lectures on "The life of purity",
"War of nomenclatures", and "The devil modifies his
plans".
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1
CHAPTER
THE NATURE OF DIABOLIC WARS
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Spiritual wars are allowed by God for our benefit... and for
the crowns gained through them as one of the saints said,
"None shall be crowned except the one who conquers, and none
shall conquer except the one who fights."
God intends these wars to test the freedom of our will, and to
give us the opportunity to deserve the riches of the heavens if
we conquer... As for the devil, it is his nature to resist God's
kingdom and fight those who seek it. He fights God through
His children and accuses them as in the case of Job the just (Job
1,2). He envies those who lead a life of righteousness, that they
may not gain the divine blessing which he himself was deprived
of.
Diabolic wars fight all; no one escapes from them.
When we speak of these wars, we mean the wars waged by the
devil and all his forces and supporters.
Since the days of Adam and Eve and their son Cain the devil
has been fighting, trying his best to throw men under the
condemnation of eternal death. He overthrew prophets,
apostles, and persons who had the Spirit of the Lord such as
David and Samson who repented, and King Saul whom God
refused and the Spirit of the Lord departed from, " and a
distressing spirit from the LORD troubled him."(1 Sam. 16:14).
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So, do not think that diabolic wars are directed only at
beginners or sinners.
Satan fights all, including those who may be growing in grace,
he fights them even more. Thus, everyone must be on guard
and not think themselves above certain wars. Let us remember
how David the prophet was fought by adultery and fell into that
sin in spite of having the Spirit of the Lord and in spite of
having been the anointed of the Lord... the devil seeks any prey.
St. Peter described him using some grave words, " ... your
adversary the devil walks about like a roaring lion, seeking
whom he may devour."(1 Pet 5:8).He wanders about continually
to catch his prey. When the Lord asked him (in the story of
Job), "From where do you come?" , he answered plainly, "from
going to and fro on the earth and from walking up and down
on it" (Job 1:7, 2:2). Of course the purpose of this wandering is
seeking any prey to overthrow.
The devil does not get desperate however strong the person
whom he fights is.
It is even said of sin, "For she has cast down many wounded,
And all who were slain by her were strong men." (Prov 7:26).
The devil did not even hesitate to fight the twelve disciples of
Christ. The Lord spoke to St. Peter the apostle about this,
"Satan has asked for you, that he may sift you as wheat , But I
have prayed for you, that your faith should not fail " (Luke
22:31, 32 ). We also remember Elijah, the great prophet whom
God lifted to the heavens, of whom St. James the apostle said,
"Elijah was a man with a nature like ours " (James 5:17)
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The devil even dared to tempt the Lord Jesus Christ Himself.
He offered Him three temptations on the mount (Matt. 4). He
was not dissuaded by what he knew about Christ or by the
divine revelations which preceded this at the time of His
baptism (Matt. 3:13-17); he fought Him throughout the forty
days (Mark 1:13, Luke 4:2).
Thus, it was said that the Lord Jesus Christ, "Was in all points
tempted as we are, yet without sin." (Heb. 4:15), and, "For in
that He Himself has suffered, being tempted, He is able to aid
those who are tempted." (Heb. 2:18).
Indeed, the temptation of Christ by Satan is a comfort for us in
all our trials... If a temptation befalls you, do not be troubled,
for Christ has been tempted before, and as He has conquered,
you will conquer as well.
Diabolic wars are aimed against God Himself, against His
kingdom, and against us who are His blessed temples.
The devil wants to resist God's Kingdom by every means and
rejoices when he is able to overthrow "if possible, even the
elect." (Matt 24:24).
Just as" there is joy in the presence of the angels of God over
one sinner who repents." (Luke 15:10), undoubtedly the devils
rejoice when one righteous person falls and delight over anyone
who submits to them.
St. Paul the apostle explains these spiritual wars, "Put on the
whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the
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wiles of the devil. For we do not wrestle against flesh and
blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the
rulers of the darkness of this age, against spiritual hosts of
wickedness in the heavenly places." (Eph. 6:11, 12).
He explained that these spiritual wars need spiritual weapons to
resist them, which the apostle mentioned in the same chapter in
detail. They require Gods' help, as He says, " without Me you
can do nothing." (John 15:5) . In these spiritual wars, how nice
it would be to remember the words of David the prophet, " ...
the battle is the Lord's " (1 Sam 17:47)
Spiritual wars are continuous; they may vary but never
end.
As long as you are in the flesh, you are subject to these wars
which continue with you until death. Thus, St. Peter the apostle
says, ".... conduct yourselves throughout the time of your stay
here in fear;"(1 Pet 1:17). By "fear" he does not mean the
dread of devils, but he means the kind of fear which leads to
precaution and always being on guard.
For individuals, the war continues till death, but as for the
world, the war continues for ever until the end of all ages. Even
when the devil is loosed out from his prison, he shall go out to
deceive the nations (Rev. 20:7,8). "In the latter times, some
shall depart from the faith" (1 Tim. 4:1), and, "perilous times
shall come" (2 Tim. 3:1).
Before the coming of Christ, there shall come a falling away
first (2 Thess. 2:3), and the devil will do his best and will come
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down to earth, " having great wrath, because he knows that he
has a short time." (Rev 12:12).
This continuing war of the devil may become more severe
during holy times.
The devil gets very annoyed when we start any spiritual work
and uses all his means lest the prey should escape him. Thus,
when we start spiritual work, he starts using his wars, devices,
and many obstacles.
We start spiritual work, and he begins resistance.
He is not comfortable as long as we have any relationship with
God, knowing that this endangers his kingdom. Here are some
wonderful words from "The Paradise of the Fathers", "When
the bell rings in the middle of night for prayers, it does not only
awake the monks to pray but the devils are also aroused to
fight monks and prevent them from praying..."And thus, St.
Evagrius said,
"When you begin a holy prayer, be ready for whatever may
befall you."
Whenever we start spiritual practices, whether prayers,
contemplation, hymns, spiritual reading, or kneeling down in
worship, the devil does not stand tied up or merely watching
but he also works and he has certain wars with which he fights.
True indeed are the words of the Book of Joshua the Son of
Sirach,
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"My son, if you come to serve your God, be ready for all
temptations." (Sirach 2:1)
This verse is a part of a chapter recited on the ordination of a
new monk. It is also included in the reading of the third hour of
Tuesday of the passion week. Of course the devil gets ready to
fight those who get ready to resist him. Thus, do not be
astonished at the wars which accompany spiritual work. Never
let such wars make you turn back... but be vigorously steady
not withstanding any trouble you undergo, remembering the
words of St. Paul the apostle, "... be steadfast, immovable,
always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that your
labor is not in vain in the Lord." (1 Cor 15:58).
We start the struggle, and he starts fighting. We start
spiritual matters, and he starts resistance.
An example of this is that the devil gets annoyed at fasting
because through it "... I discipline my body and bring
it into subjection "(1 Cor 9:27), so that your soul may
rise and attain God... the devil does not accept this. He gets
annoyed at lent in particular, because people are very devout
during it, and it reminds the devil also of the fasting of the Lord
Jesus Christ, and of his own defeat (Matt. 4). Thus, the devil
struggles to hinder this fasting or raises problems during it so
that people may be engaged in those problems and neglect
spiritual work.
Hence, some find a relation between this fast and problems and
trails.
Undoubtedly, spiritual work stirs up the envy of devils...
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The devil envies a spiritual person for his attachment to God
which he is deprived of. He envies man because though he is
earthy and has flesh, he tries to make his soul rise high and be
elevated, while the devil in spite of being a spirit (Matt. 12:45),
is far away from God and is an unclean spirit (Mark 1:27).
From the beginning the devil envied Adam and Eve, making
them fall in sin and into the condemnation of death. Thus, we
say in the Divine Liturgy, "And death which entered into the
world through the envy of Satan".
The devil envies only those who are successful in their
spiritual work.
He envies those who are near to God and faboured by Him. He
envies the penitants for the zeal of their repentance and the
worshippers in their deep attachment. He envies the humble,
the meek and the pure-hearted and fights all of them. But what
about those who are under his domination and under the
domination of sin, or who are languid in their spiritual life?
Why would he fight them? He is satisfied with their condition
or puts them under his watch or leads them into what is worse.
Here we mention three main kinds of spiritual wars:
a) the person whom the devil fights lightly or heavily.
b) the person fought by his own desires, where the devil might
have given the starting point and left this poor prey to be fought
by his inner corruption, or by the habits dominating him.
Someone might be fought by the body or by his instincts,
another by his own self or his own thoughts.
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c) the person fought by false brethren, by wicked people or evil
surroundings which we call "supporters of the devil" or "the
devil's powers".
Thus, the church teaches us to say at the end of the
thanksgiving prayer, "All envy, all temptation, all works of
Satan, all intrigues of the wicked, and the rising up of enemies,
visible and invisible, cast them away from us, and from all your
people..."
There is another kind of these wars which we may call the
test, or trial.
An example of this kind is given in the Holy Bible, "Now it
came to pass after these things that God tested Abraham,and
said to him ..Take now your son, your only son Isaac, whom
you love ..and offer him there as a burnt offering .."(Gen 22:2).
Here, God was not fighting our father Abraham, God forbid...
but He was testing his heart to know the depth of his love and
his obedience to Him... and our father Abraham succeeded in
this test.
The saint and the sinner are both liable to be fought; but
what is the difference between them?
The main difference is that a saint is exposed to external war
only, while his inner self is pure. He does not accept this
external war, but rather refuses it and resists with all his power
in order to overcome it.
On the other hand, a sinner or a wicked person may be exposed
to a double war both external and internal. He is exposed to the
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devil's temptations from the outside and is fought internally
from the lusts of his own heart and mind. Thus, he yields to the
devil opening his interior gates for him, welcoming and
accepting his thoughts and suggestions. Even if he still has
some conscience to resist, it will be a weak resistance which will
not continue long nor will it seriously repel the thoughts of the
outer enemy.
When saints are fought, their power is revealed and they
conquer; but sinners are defeated.
However, God may sometimes allow that saints be defeated
- temporarily - for their own benefit.
For a person who always conquers, may be fought by pride and
may think highly of himself! Thus God sometimes permits that
saints be conquered so as to make them feel humility of heart
and be humbled. Besides, this would make them realize the
enemy's power and severity in his wars so they would have
compassion towards their brothers who are exposed to such
wars. As St. Paul the apostle says ,
"Remember the prisoners as if chained with them; those who
are mistreated; since you yourselves are in the body also."
(Heb 13:3).
A person who does not experience diabolic wars, may condemn
or despise those who fall, but one who suffers and gets weary is
kind and compassionate to those who fall, and prays for their
salvation as the apostle says, " knowing that the same sufferings
are experienced by your brotherhood in the world."(1 Pet
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5:9)... Indeed, how frightful are the words of Revelation about
the beast,
"It was granted to him to make war with the saints and to
overcome them..." (Rev 13:7)
And how frightful is what follows "... And authority was given
him over every tribe, tongue, and nation ,All who dwell on the
earth will worship him, whose names have not been written in
the Book of Life of the Lamb slain from the foundation of the
world." (Rev. 13:7,8).
However, lest some should despair, it is stated that those who
shall worship him are those whose names are not written in the
book of life since the establishment of the world...
That is the sons of perdition.... though they are undoubtedly
abundant, a matter which shows the severity of the wars of the
devil and his powers. We are comforted in this matter by the
statement that the beast and the devil were cast into the lake of
fire and brimstone (Rev. 20:10).
Yet, we mention all this so that we may be cautious.
Since our enemy is so fierce, let us then hearken to the words of
the apostle, "See then that you walk circumspectly, not as fools
but as wise , redeeming the time, because the days are evil."
(Eph. 5:15,16).
The victories of the devil do not frighten us but make us
circumspect and cautious. They make us not depend on
ourselves but:
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In our wars, we must cleave to the Lord for help and
triumph.
He fights the devil in us, and conquers the world in us. Does
He not say, "... be of good cheer, I have overcome the world."
(John 16:33). Yes, He conquered the world when He was
tempted by the devil, and He still conquers and will conquer the
world in all ages as long as the devil is fighting us. So, "Now
thanks be to God who always leads us in triumph in Christ ..."
(2 Cor 2:14)
He conquered the devil in our human nature for He has
sanctified and blessed it giving it the spirit of victory. So, we
address Him in the Liturgy of St. Gregory, "You have blessed
my nature in You". The devil had previously conquered this
human nature, but the Lord Jesus Christ has restored to it its
Divine Image and its dignity before the devils when He
conquered the devil while being in this nature.
Thus, the devil no longer considers this nature his game,
which he can overcome whenever he wants; for since he
was been defeated by it, he began to fear it.
The Lord has saved us from the spirit of failure and given us
power to support us against the wars of the devil. We now have
hope that Christ will conquer the devil in us when St. Paul says,
"... Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith " (Eph 3:17)
Thus, we do not get troubled by the diabolic wars as long as the
hand of the Lord is with us during them, fighting on our behalf
and conquering.
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God does not repel diabolic wars for us but gives us victory
over them.
He fights on our behalf, conquers the devils and then gives us
crowns because we yield our wills to Him while He is fighting
devils for us.
The above is only a simple introduction from which we will
proceed to speak about the devil and
his craftiness.
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2
CHAPTER
THE DEVIL'S ATTRIBUTES IN HIS WARS
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We ought to know the attributes of our enemy and the
manner in which he fights in order to know how to fight
him.
What then are the attributes of the devil? How does he fight?
Does he have a constant manner of fighting, or does he change
his methods according to the circumstances? This is the subject
which we want to examine so that we may resist him as St. Paul
the apostle says, "lest Satan should take advantage of us; for
we are not ignorant of his devices." (2 Cor 2:11)
According to the Holy Bible, we know the following about the
devil:
1. He is an unceasing fighter:
Since his fall, the devil's main concern has been to fight and
combat. He has always been a fighter, even before overthrowing
our forefathers Adam and Eve he overthrew multitudes of
heavenly angels who followed him and became his various
powers.
Since then, it has become his hobby to overthrow others.
He began to fight all, and as he overthrew some of the angelical
Cherubim, principalities, dominions, and powers, we saw him
fight God's prophets, apostles, and anointed. He also fights the
secluded hermits, anchorites and monks and anyone who loves
God. He fights whoever he knows to be in good condition or
living in righteousness.
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He is called the opponent and resistant because he always
resists God's kingdom and opposes His will. He is also called
the dragon, the old serpent, Satan and the devil (Rev.12:9); and
before the crucifixion he was given the name " the ruler of this
world " (John 14:30)
He never stops fighting, never tires nor takes a rest.
He always, "walks about like a roaring lion " (1 Pet 5:8). In
the story of Job, he told God twice that he was busy, "From
going to and fro on the earth, and from walking back and forth
on it." (Job 1:7, 2:2). He watches his victims continuously and
throws his seeds everywhere. Wherever the Lord plants wheat,
he comes and plants tares, "but while men slept, his enemy
came and sowed tares among the wheat and went his way."
(Matt 13:25).
Not only does he fight men, but he even fights even angels.
He contended with the Archangel Michael disputing over the
body of Moses the prophet (Jude 9), and resisted one of the
angels of the Lord who tried to save Joshua the high priest from
him (Zech. 3:1,2). He also resisted the angel whom the Lord
sent to Daniel the prophet for 21 days until the Archangel
Michael interfered to help him (Dan. 10:12,13). We find what
is more amazing in the Divine Revelation,
"And war broke out in heaven: Michael and his angels
fought with the dragon ... and his angels " (Rev 12:7).
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He fights on earth and in the heavens, and although all his wars
end in his destruction and defeat, he cannot stop fighting
because this has become a part of his nature.
Another attribute of the devil is that:
2. He is powerful:
That is because he is one of the angels," Who excel in strength "
according to the description of the psalmist in (Ps. 103:20).
As an angel, he lost his purity, but did not lose his powerful
nature.
Thus, the apostle described him as "a roaring lion" (1 Pet. 5:8);
and in the story of Job, he " struck Job with painful boils
from the sole of his foot to the crown of his head."
(Job 2:7) He could also raise a violent wind which smote the
corners of Job's house and it fell upon the young men and they
died (Job 1:19). Many spiritual matters prove his power, among
these are the following:
E He was able to mislead the whole world in the days
of the flood.
Only one family was saved, that is the family of our father Noah
(Gen. 6). God found that the only solution to cleanse the earth
from corruption was to destroy every living being from the
face of the earth.
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E The same is said of Sodom.
God did not find even 10 righteous persons for whose sake he
would have had mercy on that city (Gen.18:32). He found only
the family of Lot (4 people), one of whom was Lot's wife who
perished outside the city. Lot's two daughters sinned after
leaving Sodom, and Lot himself, " dwelling among them,
tormented his righteous soul from day to day by seeing and
hearing their lawless deeds" (2 Pet 2:8)
E The power of the devil appears also in beguiling the
whole world into paganism.
How could he lead the whole world, except one nation, into
paganism in the old times! It is a dangerous matter. Even that
one nation fell into the worship of idols. When Moses the
prophet was on the mountain his people made for themselves a
molded calf and offered burnt offerings to it saying, "This is
your god, O Israel, that brought you out of the land of Egypt!"
(Ex.32:1 - 6).
In the days of Elijah the prophet during the reign of Ahab the
king, there were among Gods' people 450 prophets of Baal and
400 prophets of the groves. This means that there were 850
false prophets who ate at queen Jezebel's table (1 Kin.18:19).
The Books of Kings and Chronicles tell us that many of the
kings of Judah and Israel fell into the worship of idols.
E The power of the devil appears also in overthrowing
Solomon the wise into the worship of idols.
Solomon, the wisest man on earth, who was granted wisdom
from God Himself (1 Kin. 3:12), to whom God appeared twice
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(1 Kin. 3:5, 9:2) is said in the Holy Bible to have become a
worshipper of idols, "For it was so, when Solomon was old,
that his wives turned his heart after other gods; and his heart
was not loyal to the LORD his God, as was the heart of his
father David. For Solomon went after Ashtoreth the goddess of
the Sidonians, and after Milcom the abomination of the
Ammonites..." (1 Kin. 11:4-8).
Indeed, what a striking and dangerous tragedy which shows us
the extent of the devil's power.
E Among the proofs of the devil's power is what he will
do in the last days.
That is when, "... Satan will be released from his prison ,and
will go out to deceive the nations which are in the four corners
of the earth ..." (Rev. 20:7,8). He shall even deceive the elect,
if possible, through the false christs and prophets whom he will
send with great signs and wonders (Matt. 24:24).
The danger of his violent work throughout that hard time is
expressed by the Lord, "... unless those days were shortened,
no flesh would be saved; but for the elect's sake those days will
be shortened." (Matt 24:22).
In those days, the devil will also send the anti-Christ, the man of
sin who opposes and exalts himself above all that is called God,
"The coming of the lawless one is according to the working of
Satan, with all power, signs, and lying wonders ,and with all
unrighteous deception among those who perish "
(2 Thess. 2:9,10).
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As a result of the devils' power, there will come a falling
away first.
This will take place before the coming of Christ (2 Thes. 2:3).
But we thank God that those hard days will be shortened and
the wicked anti-christ will be consumed with the spirit of the
mouth of the Lord and be destroyed with the brightness of His
coming (2 Thes. 2:8).
Among the other examples of the devil's power are the
following:
He could speak through a great apostle like St. Peter. Thus, the
Lord rebuked him, "Get behind Me, Satan! You are an offense
to Me " (Matt. 16:22, 23).
He also sifted the twelve apostles, so the Lord prayed for Peter
that his faith would not fail (Luke 22:21, 32).
He overthrew men of valor like David and Samson. He
destroyed the prophet Balaam, and ruined one of St. Paul's
disciples i.e. Demas... all his victims are strong, "All who were
slain by her were strong men." (Prov 7:26). The words of
David the prophet are true indeed, "How the mighty have
fallen, And the weapons of war perished!" (2 Sam 1:27).
Another example of his power is throwing down many
people.
Some people needed that the devil be cast out from them, of
whom it was said that they had evil spirits, and about whom the
Lord said to His disciples, "Cast out devils " (Matt. 10:8). One
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of these people had "Legion" (Mark. 5:9), and "neither could
any man tame him". At that time, the disciples of the Lord were
unable to cast out some of these devils, so the Lord said to
them, "...This kind can come out by nothing but prayer and
fasting." (Mark 9:29).
Perhaps because of this power of the devil, God bound him
a thousand years.
"...and he cast him into the bottomless pit, and shut him up,
and set a seal on him, so that he should deceive the nations no
more till the thousand years were finished. But after these
things he must be released for a little while." (Rev 20:2,3).
This talk about the power of the devil should not make you fear
him!! No.
Though the devil is powerful, God is more powerful than
him.
Not only did God subdue the devil for us but He let many of the
fathers conquer him and the devil even feared them. We'll
return to this point in due time if God wills.
Another important aspect of the devil's character as our
opponent is:
3. He is experienced in fighting and knows our nature:
The devil has been fighting man for more than seven thousand
years, since Adam... imagine what experience he has gained
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from his fight with humanity. Undoubtedly, he is the creature
most capable of understanding the human soul and how to fight
it. He has examined the human soul very well and knows the
strong and weak points in it, as well as the way to fight it.
The devil is the greatest psychologist and psychoanalyst.
Psychology to him is not mere theories but an experience on the
practical and scientific levels and on a great scale which includes
humanity as a whole. Thus, he knows when he should fight,
how to fight, and when to wait. He knows the gates to the
mind and to the heart.
Other qualities which appear in the devil's wars are:
4. He is intelligent and resourceful:
He is called, "the old serpent" (Rev. 20:2, 12:9), and the Holy
Bible says that "Now the serpent was more cunning
than any beast of the field " (Gen 3:1). He is
intelligent and wise in evil, and the Bible requires us to be,
"wise as serpents" (Matt. 10:16). The wisdom of the devil is
all mischief, malice and subtlety.
The devil's intelligence appears in that he changes his plans and
methods according to the circumstances. Among his dangerous
wiles are: lying, deceit, and beguilement which he weaves so
intelligently that the person fought cannot be aware of it. He
may also introduce sin disguised as virtue.. and so on.
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How abundant are the wiles of the devil! We shall allocate for
them a special chapter in this book, which may be its main
chapter.
Among the other attributes of the devil is the following:
5. He is a liar:
He lied when he said to our forefathers Adam and Eve, "You
will not surely die." And, "you will be like God ..."(Gen. 3:4,5).
Lying is a distinctive characteristic of the devil; so the Lord said
about him, "He is a liar and the father of it." (John 8:44). It
was said so that we might not believe or be deceived by
anything said by the devil. The lies of the devil are not only the
words which he utters, but there is also something far more
dangerous:
There are the false prophets and false christs whom he
sends.
The Lord warns us against them saying, "Then if anyone says to
you, 'Look, here is the Christ!' or 'There!' do not believe it. For
false christs and false prophets will rise and show great signs
and wonders to deceive, if possible, even the elect." (Matt
24:23,24). Of course, the signs and wonders which they will
give are from the devil as it is said of the anti-christ, "The
coming of the lawless one is according to the working of Satan,
with all power, signs, and lying wonders," (2 Thess. 2:9).
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An example is the devil's speaking through the mouths of
the false prophets.
He says about persuading King Ahab to make him perish, "I will
persuade him.....I will go out and be a lying spirit in the mouth
of all his prophets. " (1 Kin 22:21,22). Just as the Holy Spirit
speaks through the mouths of the holy prophets, so the devil
speaks through the false prophets.
The devil also tells his lies in false dreams and visions.
How abundant are the wars faced by the monks through such
false dreams and visions. Some of these are included in "The
Paradise of the Fathers". An example of this is the appearance
of the devil to a monk saying: "I am the angel Gabriel. The
Lord sent me to you". But the monk replied humbly, I am a
sinner; I don't deserve to see an angel. Perhaps you are sent to
another one and you missed the way." The lie was revealed and
the devil departed and disappeared.
Another example is his appearance to a monk saying to him, "I
am Christ. Worship me." The monk said in his heart, "I worship
my Lord Christ everyday. Why then does he ask me to do so?"
In this way, the wile and the lie were discovered; the monk
rebuked him and he departed.
How abundant also are the false dreams, by which the devil
misleads people making them think that the dreams are from
God! St. Paul the apostle said of these false visions of the devil,
" For Satan himself transforms himself into an angel of light."
(2 Cor 11:14).
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In the story of father Galion the anchorite, the devils appeared
to him in the form of roaming fathers wishing him to join them.
He did not discover that they were devils except when they led
him astray in the wilderness, mocking and leaving him
scornfully. However, God's mercy saved him due to his
devoutness, purity of heart and his previous toil.
The lies of the devil appear also in the words of magicians
and diviners... etc.
Thus, the Lord commanded, " you shall not learn to follow the
abominations of those nations. There shall not be found among
you anyone who makes his son or his daughter pass through
the fire, or one who practices witchcraft, or a soothsayer, or
one who interprets omens, or a sorcerer, or one who conjures
spells, or a medium, or a spiritist, or one who calls up the
dead. For all who do these things are an abomination to the
LORD, and because of these abominations the LORD your
God drives them out from before you." (Deut. 18:9-12).
Perhaps this verse reveals to us another thing :
The falsehood of the devil in consulting spirits of the dead
and necromancy.
In such meetings, he may pretend to be the spirit of a certain
person, giving those present some deceiving information which
he knows about that person and his family. If they believe him,
he begins to tell them gradually things to mislead them... all of
which is falsehood and feigning of the devil to deceive people.
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Among his lies also is what he says through the mouths of
astrologers and those who claim the knowledge of the
unknown:
Whether through astrology, palmistry, geomancy, reading
coffee-cups, or fortune-telling by various ways and methods.
It is theologically evident that no one but God alone knows the
unknown. So, whoever claims knowledge of the unknown is
untrue.
All the temptations of the devil are kinds of falsehood:
He makes man imagine some happiness to be gained from sin,
whether it be pleasure, authority, benefit, dignity or glory.. and
when one fails, one discovers that all the temptations of the
devil are merely a vanishing mirage and falsehood. This is what
he did with Adam and Eve making them imagine that they
would be like God; and making Solomon imagine that he would
be happy with the abundant joys and luxury surrounding him,
but Solomon found that all was vanity and vexation of spirit
(Ecc. 2).
It is always the method of the devil, that he adorns the way of
sin, and gives it beautiful qualities to tempt whoever falls in his
nets. Yet, all his ornaments are falsehoods through which he
hides the ugliness of sin and its evil results.
The day-dreams which he offers to his victims are all
falsehoods as well.
He offers them these dreams as a kind of pleasure which would
drug them against positive work. Thus, they live through these
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dreams in false imagination, building palaces of sand, imagining
glories, pleasures and joys. Then, they awake and find nothing
of all this but that the devil has wasted their time, detained them
from useful work and given them false comfort.
Among the lying schemes of the devil is deluding the person
who commits suicide into thinking that death will relieve
him from his troubles.
He concentrates on the point that there is no use in this life, and
there is no solution for the person's problems but death, the only
solution by which he can get rid of all his troubles and have
comfort. When the person believes him and kills himself, he
finds no rest but finds himself in hell, in weariness and pain,
inevitable and incomparable with any worldly troubles. He
discovers then that death does not put an end to his troubled life
but is the beginning of a more troublesome one. The devil has
deceived him through lies, mislead him and destroyed him.
Almost all sins are hidden behind one of the devil's lies.
The devil suggests to the thief that no one will see him or
discover his theft. He suggests the same thing to the smuggler,
the briber and the fraudulent. In all this, the devil lies because
God sees, and everything is revealed before him even though
the human eye cannot see.
He suggests to the murderer that the victim deserved to be
killed and that his life was a mistake which needed to be
corrected or that murder washes out shame which stains his
honor or that it comforts the soul of a deceased relative.
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Perhaps atheism is the greatest falsehood offered by the
devil to humanity.
He lied when he suggested to the existentialists that God's
existence hinders their own existence; and when he suggested to
the Marxists that God lives in a high tower and does not care
for the human society letting the oppressor oppress and the rich
enslave the poor!
Another attribute of the devil is:
6. He is insistent:
He is very insistent, never getting weary. He may offer a
certain thought many, many times and continues to offer it even
though it is refused by people.
A person may yield and submit due to the continuous
pressure and insistence.
It is stated in "The Paradise of the Fathers" that the devil
fought one of the monks with one sin for 50 years without
ceasing, getting desperate or getting weary.
Even when he was fighting the Lord Jesus Christ, he did not
cease after his failure in the first, second, and third temptation.
Though the Lord rebuked him and he departed, it was not for
ever as St. Luke the Evangelist says, "Now when the devil had
ended every temptation, he departed from Him until an
opportune time." (Luke 4:13). The term "for a season" means
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that he returned to tempt him another time and many more
times.
The devil never gets desperate due to any failure, and never
gets ashamed but always returns!
When he failed in the first temptation of Job, he demanded
again to tempt him harder; and when he failed in all his
temptations to the Lord Jesus Christ, he came to Him when He
was on the cross and said, " If You are the Son of God, come
down from the cross." (Matt 27:40).
The devil, insisting to overthrow people, does not
acknowledge any obstacles.
He does not care that Adam and Eve are created after the image
and likeness of God (Gen. 1).
He does not care that David is the anointed of the Lord, nor
that Solomon is the wisest man on all earth, nor that Peter the
apostle is very enthusiastic for Christ, nor that Joshua is the
high priest (Zec. 3), nor that Aaron is the chief priest (Ex. 32),
and Samson a nazarite of the Lord "and the Spirit of the Lord
began to move him" (Judg. 13). He does not care about the
positions or spirituality of people, but strikes whatever the
result may be. Since he dared to tempt Christ the Lord of Glory,
would he not dare to tempt mortals?
He casts his poisons every now and then on everyone and
perhaps he who does not perish by it today, perishes the
next day, next year or even after 20 years.
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The devil is persistent, active, importunate, and persevering.
He is not disheartened by failure nor does he get desperate due
to the high spirituality of people. He proceeds in his plan to
destroy God's kingdom, and to mislead even the elect. If he
cannot defile someone's body, he defiles his thoughts at least,
and whoever refuses his attacks on their spirituality, is given at
least a thorn in the flesh (2 Cor. 12:7). If he cannot overthrow
God's children, he at least accuses them, thus, he is called:
7. The accuser:
In Revelation, he is said to be, " ... the accuser of our brethren,
who accused them before our God day and night .." (Rev12:10)
He accuses saints, claiming that he did not have the
opportunity to fight them!
Or that the opportunity which he did have was not
sufficient!
Formerly, he stood before God to accuse Job claiming that he
did not have the opportunity to fight him. He said to God,
"Have You not made a hedge around him ....You have blessed
the work of his hands ...But now, stretch out Your hand and
touch all that he has, and he will surely curse You to Your
face!" (Job 1:10,11).
God faced the devil revealing to him the cruelty and falsehood
of his accusation and said to him about Job, " still he holds fast
to his integrity, although you incited Me against him, to
destroy him without cause." (Job 2:3). However, the devil
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continued to accuse him a second time asking for a wider
chance and for permission to smite Job with sore boils (Job 2:7).
It is amazing that the devil performs whatever he wants and still
complains!
He complains in spite of his numerous talents.
8. He has numerous talents:
He has numerous far-extending abilities. He knows and
masters many things.
God did not withdraw from him the talents granted to him
while he was an angel.
His knowledge is very wide, in every field. He even knows the
verses of the Bible very well and uses them in fighting people
such as theologians. In the temptation on the mount, he used
the Holy Bible in his own way (Matt. 4:6). He is even the
author of all heresies and heterodoxies. He put them in the
minds of heretics and offered them wrong concepts for the
verses of the Bible. True are the words of St. Athanasius the
apostolic, "Our enemy is not the Arians but the devil."
The devil knows poetry, and many poets speak of the devil of
poetry which inspires them with ideas. It is not strange then
that one of the spiritualists says that he has fetched the spirit of
a famous poet and heard from him a poem in his usual style. It
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is probable that the devil interfered and dictated the poem to the
mediator, in the same style!
The devil also knows music, art, carving, drawing and
songs.
He can inspire those who are concerned with amusement with
whatever they need in their arts to entice people, overthrow
them or lead them astray from their spiritual course.
The devil is considered among the distinguished
psychologists, and even at the head of them due to his practical
experience. As this experience helps him in his wars, his wars
add also to his experience and his knowledge. As the devil is
among the psychologists, he is also among the spiritualists
because he is a spirit and knows things concerning spirits more
than human beings do.
However, the knowledge of the devil serves his own
purposes.
For pure knowledge is one thing, and using it to fulfil an
objective is another thing. The purpose of the devil is known, it
is to resist God and His Kingdom. So, he uses all his
knowledge to realize this diabolic aim.
Another attribute of the devil is:
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9. He is cruel:
He works with all cruelty, and without mercy.
His cruelty is very evident in the story of Job the just.
He also led many to perdition and loss, such as those who were
destroyed by the flood, and by the fires of Sodom, and those
who were swallowed up alive by the earth (Num. 16).
His cruelty is also evident in the cases of those who became
lunatic and insane on his account, such as the mad man of the
country of Gadarenes who, " had demons for a long time. And
he wore no clothes, nor did he live in a house but in the
tombs... and he was kept under guard, bound with chains and
shackles; and he broke the bonds and was driven by the demon
into the wilderness."(Luke 8:26-29); and, "... he was in the
mountains and in the tombs, crying out and cutting himself
with stones."(Mark 5:5). There are many others resembling him.
His cruelty appears also in fighting saints and in frightful
scenes.
When fighting St. Anthony the Great, he used to appear in very
terrible forms, sometimes in the form of fearful beasts crying
around him in horrible voices. Once he struck the saint hard
with very painful blows leaving him half dead. Similarly,
whoever reads the story of St. Keriakos, the roaming anchorite,
will find other examples which resemble or surpass this kind of
war.
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He is cruel in the wars, calamities and crimes which he
instigates in the world.
The results of all this are known, yet the devil is pleased with all
the calamities of the world and counts this as a victory for
himself. Besides destroying souls and minds, spreading
contentions, causing disruption and dispersion, he is a
destructive factor that destroys unceasingly and violently and is
happy about the destruction he spreads.
Believe me, if we read about the cruelty of the devil in his
terrifying wars against saints, we would say that we've never
been fought by the devil because our present wars are trifles
when compared to theirs.
What is amazing about the devil's cruelty is that he pretends
sometimes to be kind, but...
10 . He is malicious in his pretended kindness:
His kind words are a malignant means to overthrow people.
He "shows sympathy" for you when you fast and calls you to eat,
for your own health! He warns you against diseases and
weakness! He says to you, "Beware lest you should kill your
body which is a talent with which you may glorify God.
Hearken to the apostle saying, "For no one ever hated his own
flesh, but nourishes and cherishes it...." (Eph 5:29).
He "sympathises" with you when you become spiritually active
and when you keep awake in prayers, reading and kneeling
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down in worship (Metania) and calls you kindly to go to sleep
and have rest.
He is so 'kind' that he is anxious about you, fears that you
may fall into 'extravagance' and calls you to limit your
struggling.
When you are in deep spiritual practices, he says to you, "there
is no need for all this, the fathers teach us that the medium way
has saved many...". Accordingly he says, "Beware of
extravagance lest the devil should strike you with a right blow
which is harder, and lest you should fall in vain glory which is
the worst evil of all vices." He even proceeds to say,
Undoubtedly, this extravagance in struggling is the work of the
devil and he does not intend any good for you! Hearken to the
words of the Holy Bible, "Do not be overly righteous, Nor be
overly wise: Why should you destroy yourself?" (Eccl 7:16).
The 'kind-hearted' devil pities you when you weep for your
sins...
He says to you, "Why do you weep and live in sadness, this is
not the way of God... Did not God forgive your sins and wipe
them out with His Blood? Why then do you weep for them?
Do you want to keep weeping till you destroy your nerves and
your soul and be shown up before people? Did not the Holy
Bible say, "Rejoice in the Lord always..." (Phil. 4:4). He goes
on pressing till you lose the humility of heart, lose the tears of
repentance and cool down.
Thus, it becomes easy for you to sin and perhaps you return to
sinning. Of course, he makes you forget the words of the Bible,
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"... by the sadness of the countenance, the heart is made
better." (Ecc. 7:3).
The 'kind-hearted' devil justifies your mistakes for you so
that your conscience may not be weary.
He prevents you from rebuking yourself, having regard for your
feelings! He is 'compassionate' for you lest you should fall into
sorrow and despair! Thus, in all your mistakes he offers you
various excuses and justifications advising you, "Do not say of
everything, 'that it is wrong' , and do not rebuke yourself
exceedingly or this will lead you into suspicions. Indeed, this is
wrong, but you did not mean it. Your intentions are good and
they intercede for you and God looks into intentions... It is
wrong, but what could you have done? The circumstances were
pressing and believe me, if I had been in your place I would
have done nothing else. God does not require from you that
which is beyond your ability; so do not be distressed.. "
By justifying your mistakes, he puts your conscience at ease, so
that you are able to swallow a camel, He gets you away from
repentance, from caution and from being on guard and from
honesty in the little things.
The 'kindness' of the devil is not charity, but a means of
overthrowing people. So beware of him, do not listen to him,
be firm with yourself and behave cautiously. Be sure that the
devil is dishonest in all his wars against you; all his pieces of
advice are not faithful even though they may have a good
appearance. He wants nothing but your perdition.
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Another attribute of the devil is:
11. He is envious:
His heart never rests whenever he sees a successful or a
righteous person. He tries his best to overthrow such a person.
In his envy, he deals his blows without any mercy...
He envied Joseph the righteous for the visions which he saw
and put envy in the hearts of Joseph's brothers so they sold him
as a slave. Then, he envied him for his success and for the
confidence he gained from Potiphar; so he arranged a scheme
by which Joseph was put into prison as a wrongdoer.
He envied the world for the faith in God and made the world
fall into paganism, polytheism and atheism. For this purpose he
worked out all kinds of thoughts and philosophies and even
primitive worship. True are the words of the psalm, "For all
the gods of the peoples are idols" (Ps 96:5)
The devil envies knowledge and wisdom, envies chastity,
and envies humility...
He spreads ignorance, adultery and pride in the world with
all the malevolence he has. He turned Solomon from his
wisdom and made him fall; and threw many a wrong knowledge
into the world until, "The fool has said in his heart, "There is
no God."" (Ps 14:1); and adultery became one of the dangerous
wars which fight the whole world. Pride also has become a war
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which traps whoever escapes other sins and whoever falls in
them also.
The envy of the devil is destructive and not mere
sentiments.
For when the devil envies, he fights with all power, as in the
case of Job. He envied him for his integrity and he beat him
very hard and accused him before God. He also envied the
inhabitants of the wilderness for their hermitage and asceticism
and aroused the most severe wars against them. He envied
Origen, the most learned of his age and the first professor of
Theology at that time, he threw him into many heresies for
which the church ex-communicated him and it was said of him,
"Ye, the high tower, how did you fall?".
Thus, when you do any act of righteousness, expect the
envy of the devils.
Expect that they will never leave you in righteousness, but will
try to make you fall by all their means. So, when they strike
you on a day of deep spirituality, do not be desperate but say,
"this is what I expected. However, I pray for God's mercy to
help me not to fall again."
If God gives you a gift, expect the envy of the devils in this
case also.
They will either try to make you fall into pride, or make you use
that gift out of place, thus losing its spiritual aim and its benefit
to you and others.
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Another attribute of the devil is:
12. He is an opportunist.
The devil tries to seize every opportunity to cast his temptations
as he took advantage of the hunger of the Lord Jesus Christ
after fasting forty days and tempted Him with bread.
He also benefited from the fear of St. Peter and led him to deny
Christ.
He also took advantage of the Jews who held fast to the
Sabbath and made them deny the miracles of Christ which no
one ever did before, and further to accuse him of being sinful
(John 9:11).
13. The devil is unfaithful and dishonest:
As we have said before, the devil may show compassion for
your health whether in respect to fasting, watchfulness or any
physical weariness. He advises you to give rest to your body
for the sake of your health... !
But he is not truly honest in showing concern for your
health.
He advises you to take rest and prevents you from watchfulness
only if you keep awake for prayers, contemplation or spiritual
reading or for prayer nights. However, if you keep awake in
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amusement or other means of entertainment, he will not warn
you against the harms of wakefulness for your health!
When you get tired because of vain worldly matters, he
does not advise you to have rest.
If you tire in collecting money, in seeking fame and dignity, in
running after your lusts and joys, in arranging clamorous
parties, in games and sports and any other worldly activities...
nothing of this would arouse his compassion for you nor would
he ask you to have rest... !
He advises you to take rest only when you are tired in a spiritual
practice. Your spiritual struggle is the only thing that arouses
his compassion for you and your health!
So, if he asks you to have rest in time of spiritual struggle
do not obey him.
It is in fact a call for laziness and slackening... But God's
children rejoice in labor and even take pride in it (1 Cor. 15:10),
and as St. Paul says, "... in labors more abundant, in stripes
above measure, ...in weariness and toil, in sleeplessness
often..." (2 Cor 11:23, 27). He says also, "Every man shall
receive his own reward according to his own labor" (1 Cor.
3:8).
Knowing this, labor for God's sake as far as you can.
Know that the devil's advice for you to have rest, is not faithful
advice, nor honest, nor true. St. Paul of Tamouh tired himself
in asceticism till our Lord Jesus Christ appeared to him saying,
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"Leave off labor, my beloved Paul." But the saint replied, "What
is my labor compared to all your labors, O Lord, for our
salvation! "
It is better for you to weary yourself here on earth and
attain crowns of struggle than to have rest here and be tired in
eternity.
Know that your labor here is not forgotten by God because,
"God is not unjust to forget your work and labor of love ."
(Heb 6:10). Any labor you pass through here is stored for you
in eternity.
Here is not a place of rest but a place of struggle and labor.
Thus, when one dies, they say that he reposed i.e. took rest.
The devil is not honest in calling you to have rest; he deceives
you.
He talks to you about health in time of asceticism and not
in time of corruption!
When you fast, the devil puts on the dress of physicians and
gives a lengthy lecture on the importance of animal protein and
the main amino acids showing his concern for your body and its
health.
But he does not talk about your health if you keep smoking and
drinking or practicing youthful lusts which destroy your health
because he is not honest in calling you to take care of your
health.
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So, if he fights you with the comfort and health of the body,
say, "it is no time for this."
If the war of comfort is of the devil, the war of laziness is
more severe.
When we are tired in body, we feel comfort in our souls and
vice versa.
When we fulfil our duties, we feel comfort and joy however
tired our bodies may be. Also, overcoming our bodies in
fasting, watchfulness, kneeling down in worship or in chastity,
gives us indescribable comfort.
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3
CHAPTER
THE INTRIGUES OF THE DEVIL
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"Deliver us from the intrigues of the adversary..."
"and annul all the snares he sets against us"
From the eleventh hour prayer
=============================================
How abundant are the intrigues of the devil! They have no
end. If one fails, he changes his wile for another one, then a
second, and a third, and so on, untill he achieves his purpose. He
has no definite plan to attain his goal but takes what he deems
suitable for every situation without being restricted by anything.
However, there are among his well known and obviously
repeated plans some methods which have become known and
recognized such as:
1. A sin hidden in the guise of virtue:
How easy it is for the devil to offer you some sins under
different names, in a style which can be easily accepted so
that sins become disguised as virtues.
As the Lord has said, "... come to you in sheep's clothing, but
inwardly they are ravenous wolves." (Matt 7:15)
Mocking or sneering at people is introduced as gentleness and
courteousness, affection, familiarity, wittiness and an attempt at
humour.
He calls cunning, intelligence!
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He offers you harsh treatment of your children and young
brothers under the name of discipline, good-breeding and
correction. He even makes your conscience blame you if you
do not do so.
He also offers the unbecoming ornament and adornment in the
name of elegance and cleanliness.
The devil does not introduce sin revealed, otherwise a
person would refuse it.
He gives it another name while it remains the same sin, without
any difference.
He says, "I shall fight (so-and -so) with nomenclature and make
him fall into what I want; perhaps without being aware...or he
may be aware but his conscience will not blame him.
"If I offer him hypocrisy under this hateful name, he will not
accept it. What shall I do then? I shall make him as a
whitewashed tomb which indeed appears beautiful on the
outside (Matt. 23:27) so as to be from within completely
different from what he is without. I shall give hypocrisy an
acceptable name; let it be disguised as keeping others from
stumbling, or call it a good example for others."
It is not 'wisdom' of the devil to call the sin by its name
otherwise his plans would be revealed and his goals fail!
The Lord said to His disciples,
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" The time is coming that whoever kills you will think that
he offers God service." (John 16:2)
Certainly, the devil presented murder to those people as 'zeal' or
'defending religion', 'holy struggle' or 'purifying the earth from
sinners'. This might have been the feeling of the scribes, the
Pharisees and the elders when they presented the Lord Jesus
Christ to be crucified.
Those who rebuked the children and forbade them from going
to Christ (Luke 18:15) did not consider this cruelty or
indifference towards them but their behavior took the clothing
of sheep and the name of virtue whether it be 'keeping
discipline' or 'regarding the dignity of the good master'.
The devil can also offer lies under the name of "wisdom"!
He offers them as a kind of good conduct, or as saving
situations. A physician may tell the patient many lies,
justifying this before his conscience as "keeping up the patient's
morale" and protecting him from collapse so as to be cured.
Some people call certain lies "white lies" and on the first of
April they call these lies jests, jokes or some other similar
name.
In this way, how easy it is for the devil to call dancing an
art!
And to call rude and shameless pictures an art as well; and the
same with rude statues. Acting in the theatre and cinema is
included under this name 'art', however sinful it may be. Singing
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or music is also called art though it may be tempting or
exciting...
Under the name 'art', the devil conceals a large collection of sins
and stumbling blocks which do not deserve that beautiful name!
Hiding sin under the guise of virtue is a cunning wile of the
devil.
Do you imagine that the devil calls avarice by its name? No one
would have accepted it. He may call it "good economy",
"saving money for future needs", "non-thriftiness", or "non-
extravagance". If the devil wants to prevent a rich person from
giving something to the poor, he will say to him, "it is not good
to make them get used to begging, vagrancy, and dependence.
Not giving them is wisdom, even the heart of wisdom in order
that they may search for work and eat their bread by the sweat
of their faces according to the commandment of the Lord God
(Gen. 3:19)."
Giving sin the name of virtue makes people continue doing
it...
Not only does this deceit stop people's conscience from
rebuking them with respect to the past, but it also leads them to
continue with the same sin in the future.
Would the devil have called the ideas of Arius, Macdonius,
Sabilius and others, heresies?
No, he convinced them that their heresies were defending the
right faith!! He provided them with wrong interpretations for
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verses of the Holy Bible in order that they might accept his
thoughts and convince others of them as well.
Beware then of wrong nomenclature, and do not allow the
devil to deceive you; for sin is sin whatever other name it may
go by.
Beware also of another war of the devil i.e.
2. Destroying one virtue to gain another:
The devil gets annoyed with your stable virtues, those that have
become part of your nature. He tries to destroy them by every
means and the easiest way to do this is to offer you another new
virtue. If you practice the new virtue without discrimination -
for lack of experience - you will lose the first stable virtue.
Here is an example of this:
a) A person leading a life of meekness, quiet, calmness,
peace of heart and decent manners...
The devil wants to make this person lose all his gentleness,
good words and humility of heart. What can he do? Of course
he can not abuse the person's meekness nor say to him, "Leave
your meek nature which is loved by all..." But he achieves this
by displacement. He offers another virtue without saying that it
is a substitute... How?
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First, he explains to the person the importance of the verse,
"the zeal for your house has eaten me up."
He tells him that it was said by David who was known for his
meekness (Ps. 132:1), and that the disciples remembered these
words when the Lord Jesus Christ, the meek, " had made a
whip of cords, He drove them all out of the temple, with the
sheep and the oxen, and poured out the changers' money and
overturned the tables." (John 2:15-17) , and said to them, "And
He said to them, "It is written, 'My house shall be called a
house of prayer,' but you have made it a 'den of thieves.'""
(Matt 21:13)
He even calls the person to fight the faults of others and
provides him with all the necessary verses.
He tells him that the Lord Jesus Christ severely rebuked the
scribes and Pharisees through a whole chapter of the Bible,
"Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees hypocrites..." (Matt. 23).
He confronted them with all their faults calling them more than
once, "blind guides" and saying to them, " you are like
whitewashed tombs which indeed appear beautiful outwardly."
and, "See! Your house is left to you desolate;" (Matt 23:27,38).
John the Baptist also reproved the leaders of the Jews in his
days saying, "Brood of vipers! Who warned you to flee from the
wrath to come?" (Matt 3:7)
The devil says to this person then, "Hearken to the words of St.
Paul the apostle. What he says is an order.
He commands you, 'Convince, rebuke, exhort' (2 Tim. 4:2).
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But he does not complete the verse, "with all longsuffering and
doctrine." He does not tell him that these words are said to St.
Timothy (bishop of Ephesus) and not to everyone. He does not
explain to him how St. Paul himself used to reprove, or to say
to the priests of Ephesus, " I did not cease to warn everyone
night and day with tears." (Acts 20:31). Thus, the devil presses
so that such a person may reprove and rebuke others...
As if he were Christ or the Baptist, St. Paul or Timothy the
bishop.
The poor victim is then convinced, goes on reproving everyone
not knowing the spiritual way to do so nor who should reprove
whom, nor what his authority to do so is! While reproving
others, he falls in condemning them, in anger, cruelty and
defaming people. The image of people becomes black in his
eyes and perhaps many would leave the church because of his
conduct... He becomes an exploding bomb casting its shrapnel
everywhere... !
In that way, he loses his meekness, gentleness and decency;
he hates people and becomes hated by them.
Then, he soon gets weary of that conduct which does not
conform with his nature and tries to return to his first condition
but he finds his heart a different heart and his thoughts not the
same. He finds that he has lost his simplicity, purity of heart
and mind, as well as his good relations with others, and no
longer is the good example who benefits others.
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The devil has lured him with a virtue which he
misunderstands and made him lose his previous virtue.
Neither did he keep the first nor gain the second but he fell into
confusion!
He allows him to practise the second virtue because it is not
firmly rooted in him and shall not annoy the devil for he can
shake him easily from it.
Hence, our fathers used to advise their children saying, "Refuse
any virtue which the devils offer with the intention of destroying
another virtue which you have, and say to them,
'This virtue is good, but for the sake of God I do not want
it. '
Indeed, any work of God does not destroy another work of
God, and everyone has his own personality which differs from
that of others. What fits one may not fit another, neither has
everyone the authority to arrange and organise, to reprove and
rebuke, nor to judge and condemn. Whoever is given this
authority by God is certainly also given the way to use it
properly without doing wrong.
Not everyone can say, "Woe is unto me if I preach not the
Gospel." These words are said by St. Paul who explained the
reason for this, "Necessity is laid upon me" and, "I have been
entrusted with a stewardship." (1 Cor 9:16,17). But you, what
is the necessity laid upon you? Who committed unto you a
dispensation as St. Paul had committed to him by Christ Himself
or a mission as the Baptist received through the announcement
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of the angel to his father (Luke 1:15-17), or a responsibility as St.
Timothy undertook through the laying on of hands (2 Tim. 1:6).
Another example of a new virtue by which another virtue is
destroyed:
b) A person who lives in purity of heart away from carnal
offences.
He lives entirely on guard, he does not read anything which may
cause him to stumble. He neither looks at any offensive scenes
nor associates with any persons who may cause him to stumble,
nor listens to any offensive talk. Thus he keeps his thoughts
pure and nothing unholy enters his heart. The devil wants to
fight this chaste person, but cannot offer him a visible stumbling
block because he would refuse it surely. What would he do
then?
He opens the way for him to be a spiritual guide to lead the
youth to chastity.
He argues with him that he should not live in chastity alone,
leaving the poor youth to fall everyday without offering them
good advice which may save them from what they are in He
tells him to hearken to the words of the apostle, " He who turns
a sinner from the error of his way will save a soul from death
and cover a multitude of sins." (James 5:20). He goes on
convincing him to accept this vital spiritual service until he is
convinced and agrees to guide those who come to him... Then
comes the next step: In order that his guidance be practical,
he ought to listen to their problems and faults. They
proceed to fill his ears with their news and tales of their failing
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which may be in details and perhaps some of these tales are
offensive. The chaste guide listens to what he used to keep
away from hearing, and gets acquainted with what he never
liked to know; what he tried to avoid, now fills his ears with
his complete approval... and everyone offers him a new picture
or various pictures of sin.
Through guidance, our man finds his mind filled with foul
pictures.
He comes to know things which spoil the purity of his mind and
defile him with news and tales which, "...it is shameful even to
speak of " (Eph 5:12). Even if they do not offend him or
arouse sinful emotions within him, they would at least defile his
mind as if he has picked strange fruits from the tree of the
knowledge of good and evil.
If he tries to move away, the devil would say to him, "And
what about those youth?"
They might have got attached to him, and found comfort in his
guidance. They might trouble his conscience by telling him that
they would return to their sins if he left them; and they might
insist that he go on helping them to stand on their feet... Thus,
what happened to Lot the righteous would happen to him, "for
that righteous man, dwelling among them, tormented his
righteous soul from day to day by seeing and hearing their
lawless deeds." (2 Pet 2:8). Our brother here may be vexing
himself with hearing only and not by seeing; yet what he hears
may fill his mind with pictures which he has never seen before,
as if he has seen in reality.
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Who knows, perhaps this guide would fall, at least by
thought and heart!
He could have sent them from the beginning to a spiritual father
and relieved himself but the devil involved him or threw him
onto the beginning of the way and he accepted in good faith not
knowing how the matter would develop with him.
He may succeed in the end to transfer them to spiritual fathers,
but after his mind has stored many tales and news which destroy
his initial purity and put new knowledge in his mind, of which
Solomon the wise says, "... he who increases knowledge
increases sorrow." (Eccl.1:18).
c) The wiles of the devil may come in other forms through
guidance, where rather than offering no news which defiles
the heart, he offers doubts which trouble the mind.
Here the heart may have faith in simplicity, reading nothing but
that which is spiritual, deepening his attachment to God; then he
is asked for guidance from someone with respect to doubts
which trouble him. The doubts follow each other from every
direction seeking solutions till the faith of this guide moves
gradually from the heart, to the mind and scientific research.
Only a few can keep both together, and he finds doubts
increasing upon him but he has not the talent to refute them.
We must know that not everyone is qualified for giving
guidance.
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Those who have such a talent are not injured due to spiritual
problems or hearing carnal sins, or due to problems pertaining
to beliefs or hearing doubts.
In such a case, the resourcefulness of the devil lies in that:
He offers the service of guidance to persons who do not
have the talent for it, and who may be injured by it.
The devil persists in offering such a service so as to make those
persons feel that it is an urgent necessity and a holy duty and,
"Therefore, to him who knows to do good and does not do it, to
him it is sin." (James 4:17). However, it is so easy for a humble
heart to say in humility, "but in this case, I do not know... I was
not able to guide myself, how can I guide others?"
The devil may offer some spiritual work by which he
eliminates the impact of another spiritual work.
When he finds someone raising a deep spiritual prayer and
pouring himself before God in hearty contemplation, he may
send him a person to ask him to make peace between some
quarrelling people. As he sits with them trying to reconcile
them and hearing the noise, fuss, the quarrelling or the harsh
reproach, the effect of prayers and contemplation fades away.
This person returns home with nothing in his mind but the hot
discussions which may make him absent-minded while praying.
Such cases need to be combined with prayers and some spiritual
preparation is needed before standing in front of God for
prayer.
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The devil may find your prayer full of contemplation, so he
wants to distract you.
What would he do? While you are praying, he says to you,
"this is a wonderful and deep contemplation. If others hear it,
they will benefit from it. Rise now and write it down lest you
should forget it." Thus, he takes you away from prayers to
writing and ends your solemn standing before God in order to
sit, write, and be interested in others more than being interested
to stand in the presence of God.
Regarding all virtues that the devil attracts you to, his sole aim
is:
To make you lose what you have, alluring you with virtues
you do not have.
Or the devil makes you lose what is already in your hand for the
sake of things promised, which may not be achieved, or allows
you some virtues then withdraws them from you afterwards.
3. Using virtues out of their place:
The Holy Bible says, "To everything there is a season, A time
for every purpose under heaven" (Eccl 3:1). If virtues are used
out of their place or due time, they may lead to an adverse
result and will not serve the spiritual purpose. Hereinafter are
some of the various intrigues of the devil.
In time of repentance, where penitence is required, the
devil offers the virtue of joy.
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He gives all the verses related to joy so that repentance,
penitence and tears may be lost though they are necessary for
proceeding in the life of repentance. At the same time, he
conceals other verses such as, "Blessed are those who mourn,
For they shall be comforted." (Matt 5:4)
In this way, the devil uses the method of the single verse...
The Lord Jesus Christ refused this method. When the devil
addressed Him on the mount, "... for it is written..." The Lord
answered, "It is written again..." (Matt. 4:6,7).
Thus He showed us that the method of the single verse used by
the devil cannot lead to a proper spiritual fact since there are
other verses which explain the subject.
The devil may also use various verses of a certain bearing
which serve his purpose.
He mentions the verses pertaining to mercy where firmness is
required and where punishment is necessary; and he mentions
the verses pertaining to punishment where forgiveness,
compassion and mercy are required.
The devil tries to convince a person to be silent, offering
various verses of the Holy Bible at the time when talking is
necessary. On the other hand, he offers verses about the
advantage and importance of talking when silence is preferable.
The devil may give a person some verses which do not fit
him but fit others.
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For example, he offers a layman certain verses which concern
the apostles and clergyman only and do not fit laymen as if they
are fit for him... as the words of the Lord Jesus Christ to His
twelve disciples, "Do not call anyone on earth your father..."
(Matt 23:9).
Another example is a violent person who whenever he meets
anyone doing something wrong he would strike him hard! The
reason being that the devil put in his mind the verse; "Early I
will destroy all the wicked of the land, That I may cut off all the
evildoers from the city of the LORD." (Ps 101:8).
Among the other intrigues of the devil in fighting man is:
4. Planting suspicions:
The devil plants suspicions in every field, because a suspicious
person is usually weak and the devil can conquer him.
For example, the devil plants doubts in respect of
repentance; either about the possibility of repentance or its
acceptance by God.
He suggests to the person that it is not easy for him to get rid of
such sins which have become a part of his character or one of
his habits or have become so loved by him that he can never
dispense with them. Filling that person with doubts concerning
his ability, the devil conceals completely God's help or makes
him doubt it as David the prophet says "LORD, how they have
increased who trouble me! Many are they who rise up against
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me. Many are they who say of me, "There is no help for him in
God..." (Ps 3:2).
But, if the person insists on repentance, the devil makes him
doubt God's acceptance of his repentance, either because it
came after due time or because it is not true or because his sins
are so dreadful that they cannot be forgiven easily but need
punishment beyond his endurance!
The only objective of the devil is to throw the repentant
into despair.
This would make him lose heart and continue in sin.
The devil may also make him doubt God's mercy, giving him
countless verses about God's justice and punishments; and
perhaps the punishments are for sins far lighter than his.
The devil's suspicions may enter into the personal life also.
He plants doubt concerning which is to be preferred:
virginity or marriage.
He also makes a person doubt which ever way he chooses.
If the person chooses virginity, the devil makes him doubt
whether he can lead such a life or not and shows him that it is a
very hard way, which fits only those, "to whom it has been
given" (Matt 19:11) and that, "... each one has his own gift
from God..." (1 Cor 7:7)
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The devil asks him, "How do you know that this is your gift?"
and explains to him the falls of some holy people saying, "Are
you better than David and Samson who both had the Spirit of
the Lord?"
On the other hand, if the person chooses to marry, the devil
says to him, "You have lost the crown of virginity." He puts
before him the words of St. Paul the apostle, "He who is
unmarried cares for the things of the Lord; how he may please
the Lord. But he who is married cares about the things of the
world; how he may please his wife." (1 Cor 7:32,33) and, " He
who does not give her in marriage does better." (1 Cor 7:38)
Thus, he leaves him in confusion not knowing which way to
choose... !
The devil plants doubts also in respect of seclusion and
ministry.
If a person chooses the way of seclusion, the devil describes to
him the glories of ministry and how it is the way of the apostles
and heroes of faith, and, " those who turn many to
righteousness Like the stars forever and ever." (Dan 12:3);
and ""Nor do they light a lamp and put it under a basket, but
on a lampstand, and it gives light to all who are in the house.
Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good
works and glorify your Father in heaven." (Matt 5:15,16)
However, if the person chooses the way of ministry, the devil
says to him, "You have lost the way of the angels who are on
earth, and lost the life of quietude and calmness in which one is
devoted to God alone. You have chosen the way of Martha
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whom the Lord reproved, 'thou art careful and troubled about
many things' (Luke 10:41,42) and did not choose the way of
Mary who sat at Jesus's feet and has chosen the good part."
He reminds him also of the vision in which St. Arsanius the
secluded hermit appeared better than St. Moses the Black who
loved and served the brethren.
Thus, the devil goes on planting doubts as St. John Climacus
says, "The devil fights the monk who lives in seclusion with the
love and service of the brethren. But he fights the monk who
serves the brethren in society with the love of loneliness and the
life of quietude, prayers and contemplation."
The devil plants suspicions in the social relations as a
whole.
He plants suspicions between husband and wife, between
friends, partners in business, and between boss and
subordinates. He makes one person doubt the love of the other
or doubt his faithfulness and honesty. He plants suspicions
against any behaviour of people and against their intentions and
purposes. The devil does all this to shake relations among
people, lead them into discord and disputes, and destroy love on
which spiritual and social life as a whole depend.
Even matters which should pass easily, are complicated by the
devil's various suspicions and he may make of them complex
problems!
The devil plants doubts in respect of faith itself and beliefs.
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All the heresies and heterodoxies which humanity has suffered
from are the making of the devil and his thoughts. All the
various sects with the conflicts among them, and atheism are
also caused by the devil.
The devil also makes people doubt the possibility of life
with God.
He explains that the spiritual life is difficult or impossible, for
who can go along the difficult way, or enter in the narrow gate
(Matt. 7:13,14), and who can attain the life of perfection which
the Lord requires from us (Matt. 5:48), and who can escape the
wars of the devils?
In all this, he conceals the role of Grace and the work of the
Holy Spirit in man's salvation and conceals the abundant
assistance of God!
The devil may plant doubts in one's heart concerning the
father confessor.
He makes the person doubt the father confessor's concern and
love for him, he makes him doubt whether he will keep his
secrets. He puts suspicions in his mind concerning the father
confessor's guidance and whether it is correct and fit for
spiritual growth or not, and also concerning his knowledge and
spirituality. The devil wants to separate, by all means, his prey
from the father confessor who reveals to him the wars of the
devils, their intrigues and cunning. Thus, the poor person
remains without a guide and becomes an easy prey for the
devils.
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The devil makes the person doubt his father confessor in order
to disobey him, to leave him or conceal his disposition from
him, things which are all wrong. He may even make him doubt
the sacrament of confession itself saying to him, "Why would
you confess to a human being like yourself?"
He may make a person doubt virtue itself.
For example, he would say to him, "What is the need for
humility and meekness? They weaken your personality! What
does it mean that you leave your own right instead of getting it
by force, thus making others deceive you ... ?" The devil does
the same with the other virtues.
As for you, you must not accept such suspicions, and whenever
you feel suspicious say, "this is the work of the devil..."
Do not accept any suspicions within you, nor be doubtful,
nor let doubts continue...
If you can discuss a certain doubt, do this and prove its falsity,
or pray to God to remove it from you and remember the words
of the Holy Bible, "... be steadfast, immovable" (1 Cor 15:58).
I hope - through God's grace - to talk to you, about suspicions
on a wider scope on another occasion, when we discuss the
spiritual wars one by one in detail.
Another weapon which the devil uses in his wars is:
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5. The war of despair:
Despair is a weapon which the devil uses after long
preparatory introductions.
These preparations may be successive falls in which the devil
traps his prey unceasingly until that prey cries at last, "there is
no hope for me. It is impossible to be saved as long as I am
thus.... !"
The preparations may also be suggestions which the devil puts
continuously inside his prey under the pretext of humility! He
repeats everyday, "I am weak and helpless, I am all sin"... But
instead of being led by this to humility, he becomes weak in
spirit and feels that he will never rise again.
The beginning of the war of despair may be a great fall (such as
that of Judas) by which the devil makes one feel there is no
forgiveness after that! The fall may not be so great, but...
The devil is used to enlarging faults so as to throw the
person who commits them into despair.
The devil is very cunning in this respect, because before the fall
the person commits a sin which seems so easy as if it were an
ordinary matter and the devil gives justification for it... But after
his sinning, the devil either goes on in the same trend showing
that sin is very easy so that the person might repeat it, or he
exaggerates it in order to lead the person to despair. He says to
the person, "is it possible that God forgives such a sin?"
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The sinner may feel that he has fallen into blasphemy
against the Holy Spirit!
Thus he feels that he will have no forgiveness for ever (Mark
3:29) while that sin has no relation of course to blasphemy
against the Holy Spirit. The latter is to dismiss the Holy Spirit
entirely from the heart for the whole life. Thus a person does
not repent and accordingly is not forgiven because forgiveness
depends on repentance and repentance depends on the work of
the Spirit in the heart .
The devil may lead the person to despair, making him feel
that he will never repent ... !
He says to him, "Would you leave sin? It is impossible. Sin
now runs in your blood. Your resolution has ended, and your
will has broken, even the wish to repent does not exist now...
How many times did you try to repent, and failed to? How
many times did you confess your sins and return to commit
them and perhaps worse than before? ..." So, the devil breaks
him up till he yields to him and stops struggling...
He says to him, "You are now entirely in my hands, I can move
you from one hand to the other very easily, as I wish. There is
no need then for an unsuccessful struggle which you gain
nothing by."
Of course these fears have no basis and they are false
threats...
God is able to give man repentance no matter how bad his
condition is. History tells us of the very bad condition of St.
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Mary the Coptic, St. Pelagia, St. Augustine and St. Moses the
Black; and in spite of this they repented and have even become
saints.
However, whenever a person falls, the devil tries to throw him
into despair.
He convinces him that his fall is permanent and everlasting
and not only temporary.
How wonderful are the comforting words in the Book of Micah
the prophet, "Do not rejoice over me, my enemy; When I fall, I
will arise." (Mic 7:8), and, "For a righteous man may fall
seven times And rise again." (Prov 24:16) . In spite of the
repeated falls, the Holy Bible calls him "just".
Among the means leading to despair are the devil's attacks
during our spiritual times.
This is one of the devil's famous intrigues which have become
known to many. The following is an example of this..
You may spend a spiritual night in church, at the beginning of a
new year, full of desire and determination to start a holy blessed
year. You spend the night, attend the liturgy and partake of
Holy Communion, then you go out to meet a very troublesome
person whom the devil sends to you to disturb and excite you.
You get angry and sin; here the devil strikes you with despair
and you say, "How could I fall after all this? There is no use
then!"
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But, do not get desperate. It is a well-known wile.
Say with the prophet, "When I fall, I shall rise"...Know that the
devil will not calm down his fighting. At the beginning of every
new year, on every spiritual day, after every spiritual prayer, at
the beginning of every fasting and after each Holy
Communion... expect a blow from him to overthrow you. If he
strikes, say to him, "Seek another game; your tricks are well-
known now..."
Believe me, the wars on spiritual occasions are countless, and
may be mere envy on the part of the devil of your spiritual work
or success.
Among the means which lead to despair is that the devil
allures the person with higher levels than he can attain.
He gives him right-hand blows convincing him of high spiritual
levels which he cannot attain and encourages him with all his
power. If his father confessor advises him to advance gradually
and tries to put him on a lower level, the devil makes him
suspicious of his father confessor and his spirituality.
How easy it is for a person to go along a high level for two or
three days or even more without good grounding, but he cannot
go on and fails. Here the devil starts to reproach him and
throws him into despair saying, "You are not fit for the spiritual
way! Your nature does not conform with the proper spiritual
life.
The devil goes on breaking him up... However, if that person
had advanced gradually according to the advice of his father
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confessor , he would have eventually attained the level which
the devil wanted him to start with.
The devil was able to convince the scribes and Pharisees to
behave according to his manner.
In giving spiritual guidance they used to "... bind heavy
burdens, hard to bear, and lay them on men's shoulders; but
they themselves will not move them with one of their fingers."
(Matt 23:4). These heavy burdens may sometimes lead people
to despair, for the person who carries them may say, "Who can
bear this? Who may be saved?"
But, the holy apostles did not do this.
In accepting the nations into the faith, they decided, "we should
not trouble those from among the Gentiles who are turning to
God," (Acts 15:19). They sent to them the word, "... to lay
upon you no greater burden than these necessary things:"
(Acts 15:28). St. Paul the apostle also said, "I fed you with
milk and not with solid food; for until now you were not able to
receive it, and even now you are still not able" (1 Cor 3:2).
So, if the devil tempts you with things above your level, do
not accept.
Say to him, "Get thee hence, Satan. I have my spiritual guide
whom I obey. You do not intend any good for me. You have
your own ways which are improper and do not lead to the right
end. "It is said of St. Anthony that the devil awakened him one
night to pray, but he refused the advice saying to him, " I pray
whenever I want and will not obey what you say..."
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The devil lifts a person high to overthrow him, and when he
falls, the devil leads him into despair in malevolence. Fighting
with despair is an important war to the devil because:
When a person gets desperate, he is broken up, he loses
self-confidence and faith in God, he mistrusts the possibility
of leading a spiritual life and gives way to failure.
This is what the devil wants so that his prey may not resist him
and is destroyed. It seems as if the devil is saying to such a
desperate person yielding to him, "You will not escape from my
grasp. You will certainly go to hell. There is no use. So, I
advise you to enjoy the world for a few days instead of losing
this present life and the coming one as well... !"
The devil convinces such a person of the difficulty of
spiritual life and of his weak and corrupt nature! He
convinces him that he would not escape from his grasp nor
from divine justice...
This is the most dangerous weapon of the devil in the war of
despair. Yet, the answer for all this is simple, we do not fight
with our own wills "for the battle is the Lord's" (1 Sam.17:47),
and He causes us to triumph in Christ (2 Cor. 2:14). Though
we are not able because of our weakness and corruption and
because the way is difficult; yet we can do all things through
Christ who strengthens us (Phil. 4:13). We are supported by
the work of Grace, and the power of the Holy Spirit working in
us and by the angels sent to minister for us (Heb. 1:14). We are
supported also by the intercession of the saints for us.
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As for the devil, he has no power over us, we do not care for
his threats. How good are the words of the apostle, "Resist the
devil and he will flee from you" (James 4:7).
As for divine justice, it is satisfied by the Lord on the cross
when he offered us in His love a salvation so great (Heb. 2:3)
As for us, "If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to
forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness."
(1 John 1:9), and He shall wash us and we shall be whiter than
snow (Ps 50:7) as he has said to us, "Though your sins are like
scarlet, They shall be as white as snow..." (Is 1:18)
Since the devil fights with despair in the ways we have refuted,
the Holy Bible encourages us and puts hope among the
great virtues (1 Cor. 13:13).
Many are God's promises to us and to the church, " The gates
of Hades shall not prevail against it." (Matt 16:18) and, "We
are kept by the power of God" (1 Pet. 1:5), and we are
inscribed upon the palms of His hands (Is. 49:16). The Holy
Bible also says, "For God has not given us a spirit of fear, but
of power ...." (2 Tim 1:7). Thus the apostle advises us more
than once not to lose heart (2 Cor. 4:1, 16), (Gal. 6:9).
If you are going along the spiritual way and you fall, do
not think that you cannot walk and get desperate, but rise
and proceed on the way.
The devil envies your steps and wants to hinder them. Do not
let his obstacles lead you to despair. On the contrary, rise more
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powerful and know that were you not successful in the spiritual
work, the devil would not fight you! Indeed, why should the
devil tire himself in fighting persons already failing?
He would rather attack persons who are steadfast on the way
and persons who may resist him and whose resistance he fears.
Hearken then to the words of the apostle, " be steadfast,
immovable." (1 Cor 15:58)
Be courageous in God, and do not get desperate...
Do not get desperate however powerful the wars of the devil
are.
Do not get desperate no matter how many times you fall and
forget the commandments and fail in your practices.
Do not get desperate if the beginning is weak, or unsuccessful
or wasted.
Say to yourself, "All these are mere wars and I will cleave to
God.
I shall go along the way to God even if I pull my legs with
difficulty...
Even If I fall a hundred times on the way, I shall rise and
proceed on my way...
I shall never accept despair because it is from the devil."
Let us move to another wile of the devil.
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6. The devil changes his plans:
The devil does not insist on a certain trend in fighting man.
It is easy for him to change his trend and his plans if this
helps him to overthrow whoever he wants.
We shall now give some examples:
a) The devil used to fight a certain youth violently with adultery
and tiring him and making him fall sometimes. The youth began
a life of repentance and became fully on guard against this sin:
keeping away from its causes, closing all the gates it comes
through whether through reading, hearing or meetings and at
the same time strengthening himself from within by spiritual
practices and praying to God with tears to save him....
What would the devil do with such strong caution against
adultery?
He would say; "I shall leave him now. I shall not fight him
with this sin for a long time until he thinks that he has
overcome it completely and becomes less cautious against
it; and I shall then fight him with another sin"...
He leaves him for a year, or two, or three without fighting
him with this sin, without any stumbling blocks, and without
any thoughts; but makes him fall in such a sin as pride...
The poor youth, seeing that he is saved from adultery, rejoices,
and is tempted by the devil into a higher level of fasting, reading
and service. While his mind is at ease in respect of this sin and
satisfied with his spiritual course, the devil calls him to apply
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that level to others. He shows him that they are negligent and
that he has surpassed them to a great extent. So, he falls in
pride.
The devil also calls him to reprove and rebuke and condemn
them saying, "Your father does not pray, your mother does not
fast, your brothers do not partake of Holy Communion, your
family does not read the Holy Bible. Go and reprove them
violently...
The reproof extends to despising others, insulting and despising
them for being astray from God; while the heart becomes lofty.
As the person tries to gather up the tares, he himself becomes
tares. Under the name of righteousness, he begins to insult, talk
angrily, condemn, despise others and shows arrogance. He
becomes wrapped in vanity and pride and says like the pharisee,
"God, I thank You that I am not like other men; extortioners,
unjust, adulterers..." (Luke 18:11)
If you ask the devil about the sin of adultery which he relieved
the youth of...
He would answer, "Whoever perishes through pride is like
him that perishes through adultery. Both will perish."
Is not death by tuberculosis the same as death by cancer, or as a
result of a surgical operation? It is the same death... and the
same end... The causes are varied, but death is the same.
As for adultery, which the youth thinks that he has escaped
from, in fact it will return to him one day, when he becomes less
cautious against it, and less careful and his resistance decreases.
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At that time the devil strikes him in such a way that he does not
regain consciousness of himself. When you ask the devil how
did he do that, he says,
"During the time in which the youth was at rest from the war of
adultery, he thought it would not fight him again at all and had
no place in his life. He thought that it is one of the sins that fight
beginners and it is impossible that it would fight the high levels
which he had attained! Many even seek his guidance now for
resisting such a sin."
Thus, he begins to hear such details of this sin which he did not
allow himself to hear before. He now reads books on matters
related to that stumbling subject which were unknown to him
before, in order to answer whoever may ask him. He never
read such material during the time of his caution and
carefulness.
His mind becomes full of thoughts which left in him certain
sentiments and impressions which grow by the lapse of time
without his being aware of them. Besides, Grace began to
abandon him because of pride and condemning others. Thus, it
is time for the devil to strike him with this same sin and it
becomes easy for the devil to overthrow him. Here, the plan of
the devil has succeeded though he changed it on the way.
Now the devil says, "I have relieved him from that sin some
time so that he is no longer prepared for it and thus he is
not on his guard. So, he will become indulgent with the sin
and with the thoughts I give him. During this slackening
and indulgence, I shall fight him with the sin which he has
forgotten for years and so he shall fall easily."
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This is the devil... ! He may not fight you now with a certain sin
not because of love for you, but because he is preparing a
different trap for you.
b) Another example:
A person falling in sins like anger, condemning others, insulting
and uttering abusive words; this person begins to awake and
deeply practise silence in order to get rid of the sins of the
tongue. What would the devil do?
The devil would say, "All right, I can change the plan, and
instead of fighting him with the sins of the tongue and with
anger, I'll fight him with a sin like vanity, for example...
That person would be entirely convinced that there is no one
better than he. But how? I shall relieve him from the sins of the
tongue entirely, I shall not fight him with them now at all and
advise him to achieve some sudden growth in spiritual work in
some exaggeration without fighting him in that respect."
The person begins to think that no one resembles him and
behaves in conceit. He may also disagree with his father
confessor who objects to his extravagance and vanity, but he
does not care. He no longer submits to anyone, nor obeys
anyone. He does not consult anyone and does not respect
anyone.
Vanity traps him and destroys him without his falling in the sins
of the tongue.
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However, vanity will make him clash with others and surely he
will fall in the sins of the tongue without interference from the
devil! More so that if he would be fought with it by the devil.
The devil changes his plans continuously. He looks at the
condition of the person and chooses for him the fall which
fits him. He knows when he should fight, how and with
what means.
Whoever does not fall through a certain way, will fall through
another.
And whoever does not fall in a certain sin now, will fall in the
same sin afterwards. The traps are abundant and they are set
up.
c) A third example to show how the devil changes his plans:
Lent began and the devil was fighting a young man the
year before so as to make him not fast, but in vain:
In order to fill him with suspicions in respect of fasting, he
addressed him, "What does it mean to abstain from animal
food? It is rather better to abstain from sin and fight the animal
which is inside you... for what is the use of fasting without
chastity and purity? Would not your fasting be unacceptable?"
The young man answered, "I am only performing the
commandment of the Holy Bible, "These you ought to have
done, without leaving the others undone." (Matt 23:23). So, I try
to fast both: abstain from food by my body, and make my soul
abstain from the lust of sin, "But I discipline my body and bring
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it into subjection" (1 Cor. 9:27) by depriving my body of
delicious foods and thus get used to subjecting my soul in order
not to sin.
The devil said, "But you are weak and your health cannot
endure fasting. You certainly need animal protein in order to
live especially in this age of growing up."
The young man answered him with the words of the Lord,
"Man shall not live by bread alone" (Matt 4:4). Remember that
Adam and Eve lived on fruit and seeds, then on the herbs of the
field (Gen. 1:29, 3:18). The Holy Bible did not mention that
they fell ill for lack of animal protein!
The devil said, "All right then, you can fast but there is no need
to fast from the beginning of lent for it is too much. You must
also not force yourself to fast lest the devil should fight you
with vain glory! You know the diabolic wars and the danger of
the right-hand blows."
The young man answered, I do not want to slacken, for the
Lord requires us to be perfect (Matt.5: 48). Whatsoever fasting
I do, what is it if compared with the fasting of the holy people?
It is nothing..."
The young man fasted, and lent came this year and he still
insisted on fasting.
The devil found that any attempt to prevent this young
man from fasting would be in vain, so he began to change
his plan to the opposite.
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He said to the young man, "How useful fasting is! The
deep benefit comes from the long time of abstention. I see
you ought to abstain from food every day till sunset since
the beginning of lent. But you must consult your father
confessor and have his consent (knowing certainly that the
father confessor would not agree)"... Here the trap is set up.
The father confessor did not agree, and called the young man to
advance gradually...
Here the devil interfered, "Your father confessor is not
experienced in fasting and his guidance will hinder your spiritual
life. Thus you will not advance nor taste the sweetness of
fasting. I even fear, if it became necessary, he would advise you
to break your fasting in the Passion Week! It is better to
change your father confessor. Or you can evade consulting
your father confessor on the matter of fasting and the like!
Leave these matters out and I shall myself help you to decide on
them!
Thus, the devil changed his plan from planting doubts
concerning fasting to doubts concerning the father
confessor. He does not care for the kind of war but what
concerns him is the fall of the person he fights.
Separating the young man from his spiritual father, he made him
behave after his own heart without a guide, besides filling him
with pride of heart by which he thinks himself better than his
guide thus condemning the guide. All these are means which
may pull him downward on the way to fall.
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d) A fourth example is the devil of vain glory:
This devil changes his mode continuously to conform with any
condition...
This devil is known as a round devil, that means he is like a
ball which rolls in any direction.
Thus he differs from the cubic shape which must stand on a
certain base. The round shaped devil moves wherever you turn
or direct him on every side like a ball.
If you sit at a table and do not eat, he says to you, "I admire
your asceticism. You do not eat like all the others." However,
if you eat like the others, he says to you, "Thus do the saints,
they pretend to eat while they are in fact fasting so as to hide
their virtues."
If you talk, he says, "it is the voice of wisdom which gains
the admiration of those who hear you...
And if you keep silent, he says, "Silence is the virtue of the
saints like St. Arsanius."
Be wise with the devil and do not believe what he tells you nor
be affected by his words and judgements. If he fights you with
praising yourself, remember your sins and points of weakness
and reprove yourself for them or remember what you lack from
the life of righteousness to make a balance with any praise you
hear.
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In general, as for any devil, if he changes his plans for you,
you also change your plans against him.
An example of this is St. John the Small who was praised by the
devils for the virtues he had attained so that all who were in the
hermitage used to ask him for a word of benefit.
But St. John used to answer them, "Who am I the poor? Have I
attained what St. Anthony or St. Bemwa have attained? I am all
sin". And when they said to him "Indeed you are a sinner and
will perish.", he answered, "But where are God's love and
mercy?" So, the devils used to say to him, "You puzzle us. If
we lift you up, you humble yourself, and if we humble you, you
lift yourself up"... Thus, you also be in your dealing with the
devils.
If the devils praise you, remember your sins, and if they
relieve you from fighting, say to yourself, "Perhaps they are
preparing for me a trap which I do not know. May God
have mercy upon my weakness..."
Rather remember that you have not attained a level for which
the devils may fight you. Remember the brother who
complained to St. Pishoy that the devils fought him, so the devil
appeared to St. Pishoy and said, "Who is that brother that I may
fight him. I did not even hear that he has become a monk!"
The real wars of the devils are violent, and perhaps most of us
have not been exposed to them. The wars which fought the
saints were violent, God forbid that we suffer them.
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The devil of vain glory fights a war based on praise, but there is
an opposite way which the devil uses ie. sadness.
7. Sadness:
It is a kind of strong exaggeration with which the devil
fights the repentants, or those who are aware of their sins,
or penitent, in order to lead them to perdition.
The devil chooses only one verse from all the verses of the Holy
Bible and puts it before them always, that is, "For by a sad
countenance the heart is made better." (Eccl 7:3). He reminds
them that the Bible never mentioned that Christ laughed, but it
is mentioned that He wept many times.
Whenever one falls in sin or is fought violently with a sin, the
devil increases his sadness by saying, "You are not the son of
God, for you are a sinner, and the Holy Bible says,
"Whoever has been born of God does not sin " (1 John 3:9,
5:18)
The devil also says to him, "You do not deserve to be a son
not only of God but even of your father confessor. You are
a shame to him. You defame him."
He continues, "It is better to leave this righteous father lest the
people should taunt him saying, 'Look, this is an example of
your sons'. Leave him lest he should also be condemned because
of you and in order that he might not always grieve when he
sees you in this condition."
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Thus, he leads him away from God and feeling His fatherhood
and away from his father confessor.
Even when he holds the Holy Bible to read, he says to him,
"Would you dare hold God's Bible with your impure hand.
Every word in the Bible condemns you, for the Lord Jesus
Christ Himself says about you and those similar to you, " The
word that I have spoken will judge him in the last day." (John
12:48). Thus, he fills his soul with sadness till he leaves the
Bible in bitterness and despair.
If he is a minister, he even makes him abandon his service
thinking he is undeserving.
The devil says to him, "Ministry is for saints not for sinners, and
you are a sinner. You do not deserve to sit in the place of the
teachers, otherwise you will be a stumbling block. The ministry
will also make you forget your sins though you have to put
them before you all the time and grieve for them day and night."
When he stands to pray, the devil prevents him saying,
"the sacrifice (prayer) of the wicked is an abomination to the
Lord." (Prov. 15:8, 28:9)... and says, "Here is the publican
standing afar off, he would not lift up so much as his eyes unto
heaven (Luke 18:13), while you are slight and unmindful,
speaking to God though you are breaking His commandments.
May you be ashamed of yourself and stop this evil prayer!"
Thus, through sadness, he leads him away from all means
of grace to be alone with him.
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When the devil is alone with that person who is now lonely,
broken down, with no Bible or prayer, no father confessor, no
service or church meetings and perhaps with no friends around
him for they might have abandoned him because of his
sadness... he becomes easy prey for the devil.
How easy it is for the devil to say to him, "Leave the
religious surroundings because this is the cause of your
sadness!"
Or rather how easy it is to tell him these words through his
relatives, or through his physician and to attract him gradually
to some means of amusement to entertain him in his sadness.
This may be for some time only until the devil extends with
another wile so as to separate him from God completely.
The devil may also overthrow him by another means ie. despair,
for which sadness prepares the way.
The device of the devil in the case of sadness was to move
his prey away from hope and forgiveness.
He moved him away from the loving God, who received his lost
son welcoming and joyful making all the others rejoice putting
on him his best gown (Luke 15:22-24). The Lord even says,
"There is joy in the presence of the angels of God over one
sinner who repents." (Luke 15:10). It is true that saints wept for
their sins but not without hope for the Holy Bible says, "Sorrow
as others who have no hope." (1 Thess 4:13).
Sorrow for sin does not separate us from God but rather brings
us nearer to Him and increases our love for Him because in
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spite of our sins, He forgave us; and moreover He says, "For I
will forgive their iniquity, and their sin I will remember no
more." (Jer 31:34). God finds no pleasure at all in that the
wicked would die but that he would return from his ways and
live (Hez. 18:23).
The problem of the person who loses hope through sadness
is that he follows the counsel of the serpent, ie. the devil.
On the other hand, the word of God is full of comfort and God's
heart is always full of love. Sadness is intended to lead to
humility and penitence not to despair and separation from God.
If the devil uses sadness with his wicked ways, he will certainly
destroy the person falling in it.
St. Peter the apostle after denying Christ, wept bitterly and the
Lord Jesus Christ - glory be to Him - appeared to him and said,
"Feed My lambs...Tend My sheep." (John 21:15,16). What
more hope is there than this? So, the sadness of the
countenance which makes the heart better must not be
separated from love and hope.
Let us move to another point of the diabolic wars:
8. Speed:
The works of the devil are characterised by speed or what is
called in common use haste... On the other hand, the works of
God are characterised by calmness, deliberation and patience;
they are precise and calm such as the dispensation of salvation
and God's promises.
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The devil offers you a thought, and still pushes and pushes
so that you may perform it rapidly.
When the diabolic thought is inside you, you feel great
enthusiasm to perform it, you feel a fire burning within, and a
motive compelling you to carry out the matter immediately
without lingering, without leaving the thought within you for
some time to discuss it, examine it, and search it out,
considering it from all aspects and meditating on it.
His purpose in speed is to make you neither think nor
consult.
Through speed he wants to be alone with you, without the
interference of anyone, no one to consult with and benefit from
advice, experience and spiritualities; no friend or relative, no
father confessor or guide, and no one having any experience.
Only carry out the thought quickly.
By speed he wants also to prevent you from submitting the
matter before God in prayer.
He does not want to give you a chance to pray concerning this
matter to find out what God would say in this respect, or a
chance to raise prayers in a Liturgy for this subject, or to fast
seeking God's guidance. The thought goes on pressing on you
heavily and the devil convinces you of it as if it were an axiom
which needs no discussion. The fathers said concerning this,
"Any thought which presses on you to perform rapidly is of
the devil."
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Of course the thoughts meant here are not the desire to repent
and return to God, or to be attached to Him in love, but other
thoughts which need discussion and are not urgent (such as
saving a drowning person or extinguishing a fire). There are
many matters a person carries out rapidly but when he returns
to himself he repents much. Sometimes, the thoughts of sin and
lust are so pressing that the person finds no time to think and
change his feelings.
The purpose of the devil in using speed is also so that he
would not be discovered.
Perhaps, behind the thought or the suggestion which he offers
there is a lie or a wile which he does not want to be discovered
by thinking, consulting or prayer. So, he presses that it be
performed quickly before his lie or wile is discovered. Here the
advantage of having a father confessor appears in that he
reveals the intrigues of the devil, as it is said, "those who are
without a guide, shall fall like the leaves of the tree". That is
because they perform quickly before consulting anyone. The
devil presses on them heavily and they carry out his thoughts
before his wile is revealed.
As for God's children, they do not obey every thought
which comes to them.
For example the thought that came to St. Macarius to go to the
inner wilderness in order to see the roaming fathers. The saint
says, "I remained fighting this thought for three years to find
out whether it was from God or not". How amazing this is, for
a great saint like St. Macarius the Great and in respect of a
spiritual thought such as visiting the roaming anchorites.
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The saints saw no harm in lingering, only benefit.
They did not carry out any thought rapidly lest it should be of
the devil. Lingering gave them a chance to make sure and wait
for God to announce His opinion in that respect. They used to
utter beautiful words,
"That which is of God is established, and that which is not
of God is removed away".
We see St. Galion when the devil appeared to him in the form
of a monk saying that he was one of the roaming anchorites and
that his companions the roaming fathers allowed him to join
them and asked him to walk with him, Saint Galion obeyed the
devil without submitting the matter before God and before his
father confessor. So, the devils that appeared to him in such a
form caused him to get lost in the wilderness and left him
scornfully saying to him, "You will die here alone, in this
wilderness." But God saved him.
Another wile of the devil other than speed or rather its
opposite is:
9. Extended gradual advance
The means used by the devil in his wars vary and sometimes
there seems to be some contradiction between one method and
another but all have one aim. Yet, the means used differ
according to each case. In general, the devil does not like to
adhere to the same style, lest people should get used to it.
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Sometimes he strikes suddenly and quickly so that the
person may not be ready for the blow. Some other times,
he proceeds in long gradual advances so that the person
may not be aware of the promotion.
Gradual advance needs extended time, but the devil does not
care for the time but cares for people falling. Gradual advance
probably fits the persons who do not accept a certain sin easily.
He leads them to it gradually, calmly, in small or very small
steps which increase by time till they are destroyed.
He may split sin into stages, each stage establishing itself
over time.
The first step to sin may not be sinful at all, nor tiresome to the
conscience. The first step in the fall of David the prophet was
refraining from taking part in the war himself. He sent out the
army and remained at home. The second step was allowing
some luxury into his life, after his wandering from one
wilderness to another when king Saul was pursuing him. David
the prophet passed these two stages without being aware of any
fault.
However, there were certain psychological factors taking
place within him and robbing him of his spiritual ardour.
Then David came to the third step i.e. taking many wives; a
matter which was allowed at that time, but undoubtedly he fell
to the level of the flesh. Though it was legal it was not a level
of perfection. Flesh had control over him whether he was
aware of it or not.
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Then came the fourth step, he ascended to the roof to walk
about and look. He allowed himself to look at the houses of
others and see their privacies and thus began the slip.
The fifth step was a hard blow from the devil to overthrow the
great psalmist into lust then adultery.
The sixth step was the awkward situation by which he tried to
conceal his sin with a lot of sins which made him lose his
spirituality and brought him down from bad to worse.
Perhaps, the devil was preparing for these stages a long
time before.
When the devil deals his blow, he wants it to be deadly. This
sometimes requires long preparations on his part so that when
he comes, he may find the house adorned, furnished and ready
for his work and his prey prepared without any resistance... or
even if he resists he would be entirely powerless and fall easily!
The story of Jacob the Struggler:
It resembles the story of the fall of David as it gives a clear idea
about the devil's plan in long gradual advance. Here the devil
was able to let a great hermit fall though he was a saint who had
the gift of casting out devils. The devil was able to give this
saint three deadly blows which would have destroyed him if
God's mercy had not led him to repentance. How did this
happen?
The daughter of a certain king was possessed of an unclean
spirit which no one could cast out. They brought her to Saint
Jacob the Struggler who prayed for her and the unclean spirit
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was cast out. But when she returned to her country, the spirit
returned