SPIRITUAL WARFARE

What’s the method? “The role of this creature is that of seducer,” writes Old Testament scholar Nahum Sarna, “laying before the woman the enticing nature of evil and fanning her desire for it.” … What was the first trick of Satan? It was simple: he wanted to cast God in the minds of the first humans as a divine curmudgeon who simply wanted to keep them from all the good stuff. … The serpent undermines our trust in God’s authority by awakening dark desires. The serpent seeks to cause us to despise God for his commands, to question God’s wisdom, and to reject what God has said in the name of “freedom.”6 In so doing, we trade God’s authority for our own—God’s desires for our own. Immediately, “the eyes of both of them were opened” (Gen. 3:7).

The abuser’s first work is to pay close attention to the felt needs of their prey… What is most diabolic is that the abuser sows seed that is often life-giving. … Abuse often weaponizes care. … Abuse trades in a real, God-created felt need or desire for something that fulfills the heart and longings of the abuser. … Looked at through this lens, Satan enters Eden having done his homework. The serpent knew God placed boundaries in the garden. And in speaking to the woman, he comes off as caring. Throw off those boundaries. Be free. Get what’s yours. God clearly doesn’t have your best interests in mind. He’s suggesting he cares more than God does. … The serpent creates an artificial need—and, in turn, their desire for it. This is still the story. When we’ve got everything we need from a perfect God, the devil soon comes at us through our desires. … He offers us the gift of something we already have in God. He often awakens our desires for something God has already provided for us. In short, he awakens our desires by insinuating that we are missing out. This is where our desire becomes most twisted. As Jen Pollock Michel writes, “And here is how desire becomes corrupt: wanting derails into selfishness, greed and demanding ingratitude when we’ve failed to recognize and receive the good that God has already given.” The Gift of Thorns: Jesus, the Flesh, and the War for Our Wants by A.J. Swoboda

Recognizing ways of thinking that are furthering another agenda rather than the Kingdom of God. Mark Buchanan on CCLN Podcast

But not all questions are honest questions. When it comes to faith, some questions seek answers, and some questions seek exits. There are questions that seek after truth, but other questions seek to avoid truth. … Second, Satan moves from questioning God’s word to denying it. He claims that what God said is untrue by declaring, “You will not surely die” (Genesis 3:4). … Third, Satan deconstructs who God is. In this short dialogue, we see Satan twist the meaning of God’s words so he can deconstruct God’s character. The Deconstruction of Christianity: What It Is, Why It's Destructive, and How to Respond by Alisa Childers and Tim; Barnett.