“And the devil took him up and showed him all the kingdoms of the world in a moment of time, and said to him, ‘To you I will give all this authority and their glory, for it has been delivered to me, and I give it to whom I will. If you, then, will worship me, it will all be yours.’ And Jesus answered him, ‘It is written, “‘You shall worship the Lord your God, and him only shall you serve.’” (Luke 4:7-8)
Many people in our world do not believe in the existence of Satan. Others treat him in a humorous or innocuous way, ignoring him or making fun of him. But Satan is not someone we can ignore or be flippant about. For he does his best work on people who think he is not a problem or a force to be reckoned with. Thus he is able to manipulate men and women to with impunity and to engage in acts that cause division, acrimony, suffering, and violence.
Jesus knew that Satan was crafty, powerful, and devious and was prepared to do battle with him. Immediately following His baptism, Jesus went out into the wilderness where the devil came to tempt Him. Satan demonstrates a knowledge of scripture that can twisted around to tempt Jesus, but He, being the Incarnate Word of God, was not fooled.
Satan still deceives all of us at some time or other. He tempts all people with the lusts of the flesh, but with Christians he often attempts to fool us by twisting the Word of God around to justify sinful actions and lifestyles as he attempted to do with Jesus. He influences us to accept sinful and worldly standards of behavior rather than the truth of God’s Word by making it appear that God’s will is that His children should indulge themselves, to be get all that we deserve and be wealthy, famous, and self-fulfilled.
As Christians we must be aware of Satan’s devious methods. We can discern truth from Satan’s lies if we are partaking daily of the bread of the the Word of God through the pages of the teachings of the Church, the catechism and through our active relationship with Jesus in prayer and fellowship in the Body of Christ. We must rely on the Lord for strength and wisdom for we cannot battle the forces of Satan without His constant help. And we will find Him always there to fight the battle for us.