It’s vitally important to expose Satan as the Serpent. The Alabama State flag once showed a cotton plant in flower with a rattlesnake coiled at its roots, about to spring into action. Underneath were these words in Latin: ‘NOLI ME TANGERE’ — “Don’t Touch Me.” Years later, this design finally changed to the cross of St. Andrew. The cross has supplanted the Serpent in Alabama.¹ The cross supplants the Serpent — yes it does and in many ways! In this week’s Light on Life podcast, we take a look at and expose Satan as the Serpent.

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#039: How to Terrorize the Terrorist [Podcast]

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You can view a basic transcript of this Podcast at the bottom of this section.

Accept the Challenge

Each week’s Podcast contains a call to action. The Word of God will not produce in your life unless you put it into operation.
This weeks call is:

The Word of God teaches us in Luke 10:19 that we have authority over Satan, the Serpent. That’s good news. It’s good news because there is no work of the enemy that Jesus is Lord over. But, the authority Jesus died to purchase is useless unless you use it in real-life situations.

Join the Conversation

Each week’s Podcast also contains a question designed to encourage testimony. Testimony is vital to a believer’s life. We overcome by it (Rev. 12:11).
This week’s question is:

Question: Spiritual life is all about adjustments. Which ones do you need to make to take your place as God’s ‘dominion’ representative on the earth? 

Episode Resources

You can find more information on the subject of ‘Satan’ by clicking on the links above.

1. #S7-028: Your Powerful Victory Over Satan the Dragon [Podcast]
2. #S3-024: How You Can Destroy Satan’s Hindrances in Jesus Name [Podcast]
3. #S2-046: How to Recognize the Voice of Satan the Chameleon [Podcast]
4. #S2-045: What Is the Greatest Tool in Satan’s Toolbox? [Podcast]
5. #S2-044: How You Can Overcome the Tools of Satan [Podcast]
6. #S2-043: How to Stop Satan from Pushing You Around [Podcast]

About Emery

Emery committed his life to the Lord Jesus Christ over 40 years ago and has served as both a full-time pastor and an itinerant minister. Both he and his wife Sharon of 37 years emphasize personal growth and development through the Word of God. The ministry of the Holy Spirit is both the focus and the hallmark of their mission. Read more about them here.

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If you enjoyed the Podcast, please rate it on Stitcher Radio and leave a review. If you have a suggestion for a Bible topic you would like to see taught, or if you have a question, please e-mail me at emery@emeryhorvath.com.

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Podcast Notes

Scriptural Titles for Satan

Revelation 12:7–10 (ESV) — 7 Now war arose in heaven, Michael and his angels fighting against the dragon. And the dragon and his angels fought back, 8 but he was defeated, and there was no longer any place for them in heaven. 9 And the great dragon was thrown down, that ancient Serpent, who is called the devil and Satan, the deceiver of the whole world—he was thrown down to the earth, and his angels were thrown down with him. 10 And I heard a loud voice in heaven, saying, “Now the salvation and the power and the kingdom of our God and the authority of his Christ have come, for the accuser of our brothers has been thrown down, who accuses them day and night before our God.

• This passage is one of several vital passages which exposes the arch-enemy of the saints.
• In it, we have six descriptors for the enemy: he is called the great dragon, the ancient Serpent, the devil, Satan, the deceiver, and the accuser.

Satan the Ancient Serpent

• The very first time we see Satan on the scene is in Genesis three, right after God’s whirlwind ‘Six Days of Creation,’ which includes Adam and Eve in the Garden.

Attributes of Satan the Ancient Serpent: Crafty

Genesis 3:1 (ESV) — 1 Now the serpent was more crafty than any other beast of the field that the LORD God had made. He said to the woman, “Did God actually say, ‘You shall not eat of any tree in the garden’?”

• The Hebrew word ‘crafty’ means cunning; marked by skill in deception; shrewd is another word.
• A crafty person is one who is sly, tricky, devious, subtle, deceitful, sneaky, guileful, manipulative, shrewd, — do you hear all of these words? — what about insidious?
• These are all the negative words connected to crafty.
• But, there is nothing positive about Satan.
• Only the negative remains.
• So you see, if you are not familiar with the plain English word ‘crafty’ that the ESV uses, you won’t get the real negative sense that it is supposed to convey.

God’s Response to Satan’s Craftiness?

• Now, don’t think for a moment that the Most High sits idle while Satan sneaks around, deviously manipulating the hearts and minds of men.

Job 5:12 (ESV) — 12 He frustrates the devices of the crafty, so that their hands achieve no success.

• The word ‘frustrates’ means to break, crumble, destroy, or shatter.²
• So in these words, break, crumble, destroy, or shatter, we have a complete checkmate of Satan’s game.
• The Lord can, will, and does pummel all of Satan’s intent.
• The beat down is so bad; he might as well file for disability when God gets through with him.

Luke 10:18–19 (ESV) — 18 And he said to them, “I saw Satan fall like lightning from heaven. 19 Behold, I have given you authority to tread on serpents and scorpions, and overall the power of the enemy, and nothing shall hurt you.

• God threw him so hard; he mimicked a lightning bolt flashing across the sky.
• With all of this, the craftiness of the Serpent is yet on display.
• Why? — because people make a conscious choice not to follow the Lord, and because Satan, the Serpent, is the ‘little g’ god of this world for a short season.

God’ Power Against Satan’s Crafty Pandemic

• Think, for example, of the current COVID 19 pandemic.
• COVID is a crafty Satanic plan to separate the church.
• There is no scriptural doubt that this pandemic virus is a work of the enemy.

Acts 10:38 (ESV) — 38 how God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and with power. He went about doing good and healing all who were oppressed by the devil, for God was with him.

• Are you excited to see God’s response to the enemy’s plan?

Romans 16:20 (ESV) — 20 The God of peace will soon crush Satan under your feet. The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you.

COVID’s Crushing Defeat

• Ultimately, COVID 19 will be a crushing defeat of Satan, the serpents crafty plan.
• The Greek word ‘crush’ here in Romans 16:20 means to overcome, to utterly defeat, conceived as breaking one’s opponent into small pieces.
• So, look for this pandemic to be crushed into small pieces going forward.
• This pandemic will be utterly defeated.
• That’s God’s MO.
• Don’t fall into the trap like some are of trying to work around the devil and then calling all of that ‘workaround’ the ‘new normal.’
• Firstly, pandemics are not new.
• Second, there is no way that they are normal.
• Be bold enough to realize that the Most High God will allow COVID 19 to shape or, in any way, alter the gospel.
• Now, if you take such a bold stand, some will say that you are in denial.
• I confess — I am in denial — I deny COVID 19 in Jesus’ Name.
• You need to deny it too.
• The word of God says, ‘Lay hands on the sick, and they will recover — Mark 16:18.’
• Laying on of hands is one of the fundamental doctrines of Christ — Hebrews 6:1–3.
• How can you practice this elementary doctrine of Christ, that is, to lay hands on the sick if you have to practice COVID 19 style social distancing?
• I am telling you God’s crushing response is on the way.
• It’s coming, as they say, to ‘a theater near you.’
• Don’t allow yourself to think for a moment that the Lord is going to stay silent.

Work with the Spirit of God

• Work with Him.

Romans 8:26 (ESV) — 26 Likewise the Spirit helps us in our weakness. For we do not know what to pray for as we ought, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words.

• Work with Him and take your place of authority.
• The authority that Jesus left the church is what Jesus died to purchase.

Matthew 28:18–20 (ESV) — 18 And Jesus came and said to them, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. 19 Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20 teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.”

• Could it be that we have not taken our place of authority as we should?
• That statement includes me too.
• All of us, the body of Christ, the followers of Jesus, need to rise up and say NO! to any hellish plan of the Serpent.
• And then watch the Lord do what He does best.
• Cream Satan the craftiness of the Serpent.

Attributes of Satan the Ancient Serpent: Deception

• So, the first attribute of Satan the Serpent is craftiness.
• The next ‘negative serpent quality’ we want to take a look at is located in the book of Second Corinthians.

2 Corinthians 11:3 (GW) — 2 Corinthians 11:3 (GW) — 3 However, I’m afraid that as the snake deceived Eve by its tricks, so your minds may somehow be lured away from your sincere and pure devotion to Christ.

• The Serpent deceived Eve by its tricks.
• So, deception is another tool in the serpents tool belt.

What Is Deception?

• What is deception, exactly?
• Tony Evans said it’s the following, and with that thought, here’s the illustration of the day.

IT’S LIKE the man who hit another man’s parked car. The offender got out of his car and began to write a note. The note said, “Everybody looking at me right now thinks I’m leaving my name, address, and phone number. I am not. Good luck.”³

• That’s a good illustration that tells the story of deception — it’s the appearance of something that isn’t.
• The Greek word ‘deception’ Paul uses here in 2 Corinthians 11:3 means to trap or overcome by trickery; take unawares by craft or guile; lead astray.
• The word also means to cause to believe what is false.
• The bottom line is that deception is nothing but a flat out lie.
• That lines up with John 8:44.

John 8:44 (ESV) — 44 You are of your father the devil, and your will is to do your father’s desires. He was a murderer from the beginning, and does not stand in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he lies, he speaks out of his own character, for he is a liar and the father of lies.

• As you take all of this in, don’t forget to also center up on the word ‘trickery’ — the Serpent deceived Eve by his tricks.
• The word ‘tricks’ means deceitfulness, usually characterizing an especially wicked character.
• So, Satan, the Serpent, is Satan, the liar.
• His lies are maliciously characterized by his especially evil character.
• Satan, the Serpent is not some cute little reptile.
• He is not just lying to be cute — he is lying to be destructive.

Two Lies Satan Wants You to Believe

There are two lies Satan wants you to believe. The first one is: Just once won’t hurt. The second, now that you have ruined your life, you are beyond God’s use, and might as well enjoy sinning.⁴

• That’s what John, the gospel writer, said: when Satan the Serpent lies, he speaks out of his own, especially wicked character, for he is a liar and the father of lies.
• So, deceitfulness and trickery are twin sisters with the same DNA, that is, they came out of the same evil womb.
• Let’s go back to Genesis three and ask another question of the text.

Why A Serpent and Not Satan in the Garden?

• Have you ever asked yourself why the Serpent is represented in the Garden in the first place?
• Or asking this another way, why doesn’t the scripture call him Satan or Satan the Serpent?
• What’s all this snake business about?

Genesis 3:1 (ESV) — 1 Now the Serpent was more crafty than any other beast of the field that the LORD God had made. He said to the woman, “Did God actually say, ‘You shall not eat of any tree in the garden’?”

• We know the Serpent is Satan from a verse recorded thousands of years later, Revelation 12:7–10, the verse we opened this podcast with.
• So, why didn’t the scripture just call him by name to start with?
• Why did we have to wait for so many millennia?
• Maybe the answer lies in how Satan hooked up with the Serpent in the first place.
• There are at least three possibilities for this ‘joining’ in Genesis 3:1.
• Number one is that it was an actual talking snake partnered with Satan.
• The second is that Satan transformed himself into a serpent.
• That’s a possibility since we know that angels can change form — they have appeared at times in the earth realm in the form of men.
• The third is that the Serpent was a snake possessed by Satan.
• This view is a distinct possibility and the one that I have favored because of the happenings surrounding the Madmen of Gadara.

Possession and The Madman of Gadara

Matthew 8:28–33 (ESV) — 28 And when he came to the other side, to the country of the Gadarenes, two demon-possessed men met him, coming out of the tombs, so fierce that no one could pass that way. 29 And behold, they cried out, “What have you to do with us, O Son of God? Have you come here to torment us before the time?” 30 Now a herd of many pigs was feeding at some distance from them. 31 And the demons begged him, saying, “If you cast us out, send us away into the herd of pigs.”

• So, you see, the demons are talking through this man.

32 And he said to them, “Go.” So they came out and went into the pigs, and behold, the whole herd rushed down the steep bank into the sea and drowned in the waters. 33 The herdsmen fled, and going into the city, they told everything, especially what had happened to the demon-possessed men.

• So, get what happened here — the demons that were in the man went into the pigs.
• This story began with demon-possessed men and ended with demon-possessed pigs.
• The point is that demons can possess animals.
• And, they can speak out of the mouth of animals also – that’s the Genesis record.
• Now, Genesis three, verse one, distinctly states that the Serpent was in the animal class, which, when combined with Revelation 12, makes the idea of the snake being possessed likely.
• Listen to the verse again.

Now the serpent was more crafty than any other beast of the field that the LORD God had made.

• Did you hear that? – any beast of the field.

Don’t Get Caught in the Crossfire

1 Corinthians 3:19 (ESV) — 19 For the wisdom of this world is folly with God. For it is written, “He catches the wise in their craftiness,”

• The wisdom of this world is a direct result of Satan’s influence.
• Why? — because the Serpent is the ‘little g’ god of this world.

Rulers, Little G God’s’ and Princes

John 12:31 (ESV) — 31 Now is the judgment of this world; now will the ruler of this world be cast out.

• The word ‘ruler’ means leader, both natural and supernatural.
• Satan, the Serpent, is the leader of this world system.
• All the world is following a snake, and they don’t even know it.
• If you don’t know Jesus, you are snake-led, not Spirit-led.
• When you are snake led, evil becomes acceptable, morality is compromised by the winds of culture, ‘new normals,’ anti-Bible style is established. All of this is by the Serpent’s direct leadership.

Ephesians 2:2 (ESV) — 2 in which you once walked, following the course of this world, following the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience—

• Ephesians 2:2 is a complimentary verse to John 12:31.
• Hear this verse now in the Amplified Translation.

Ephesians 2:2 (AMP) — 2 In which at one time you walked [habitually]. You were following the course and fashion of this world [were under the sway of the tendency of this present age], following the prince of the power of the air. [You were obedient to and under the control of] the [demon] spirit that still constantly works in the sons of disobedience [the careless, the rebellious, and the unbelieving, who go against the purposes of God].

• John says in his gospel that the Serpent is the leader of the world system, Paul says in his letter that we followed him.
• When we were in sin, we followed the Serpent.
• What a yucky thought.

Keep Godly Company

2 Corinthians 4:4 (ESV) — 4 In their case the god of this world has blinded the minds of the unbelievers, to keep them from seeing the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God.

• So, the Serpent is called the ruler of this world, the prince of the power of the air, and the ‘little g’ god of this world.
• What he practices are deceit and cunning.
• Let’s go back now to First Corinthians three.

1 Corinthians 3:19 (AMP) — 19 For this world’s wisdom is foolishness (absurdity and stupidity) with God, for it is written, He lays hold of the wise in their [own] craftiness;

• In your life on planet earth, you do not want to be found in the wrong company.
• If you are visiting the area of deceit, you are putting yourself in bad company — because God hates deceit.

God Hates Lying

Proverbs 6:16 (ESV) — 16 There are six things that the LORD hates, seven that are an abomination to him: 17 haughty eyes, a lying tongue, and hands that shed innocent blood,

• See that, number two in this list of what God hates is a lying tongue.
• If you are visiting the area of craftiness, that is, you are sly, tricky, devious, sneaky, and manipulative, you are putting yourself in bad company — because God hates deceit.
• Stay out of bad company.
• If you stay out of bad company, morally speaking, you will stay out of the crossfire — because the Lord is going to respond to deceit and craftiness.

The Lord Traps the Crafty

• The scripture says, and we have already read it, that God takes the wise in their craftiness.
• That word ‘takes’ in the Greek means to catch, to trap, to seize, and to close the fist on. It suggests a firm grasp on a slippery object. The image is that of a hunter who uses the animal’s own cunning as the means of capturing it.⁵
• That’s what the Lord does; he springs the trap on the trapper.
• He blows up the lie in the liar’s face.
• Stay out of that area — stay out of that company.
• Have you ever heard this verse: evil communications corrupt good manners?
• That’s King James for 1 Corinthians 15:33.
• Here it is in the ESV.

“Birds of a Feather”

1 Corinthians 15:33 (ESV) — 33 Do not be deceived: “Bad company ruins good morals.”

Here Paul cites a popular proverb, first attributed to the comic playwright Menander but in common circulation by Paul’s day. It was the common advice of Greco-Roman moralists and Jewish wisdom teachers to avoid morally inferior company (in the Old Testament, Ps 119:63; Prov 13:20; 14:7; 28:7).⁶

• So, “Bad company ruins good morals” was a saying commonly known in that day — the day of the first century.
• Kind of like ‘Birds of a feather flock together’ in our day.
• Only this particular saying is a right, righteous, Spirit-inspired truth.
• That’s why it’s here in the Bible.
• God is saying watch the company you keep.
• There was no doubt many other sayings floating around during the first century, but those sayings didn’t make it to scripture.
• Stay out of bad company: hang out with the righteous — that’s the Word of the Lord.
• Visit and abide by moral goodness.
• Do the right thing because it’s the right thing to do.

Followers of Jesus Should Not Practice Cunning

2 Corinthians 4:1–4 (ESV) — 1 Therefore, having this ministry by the mercy of God, we do not lose heart. 2 But we have renounced disgraceful, underhanded ways. We refuse to practice cunning or to tamper with God’s word, but by the open statement of the truth we would commend ourselves to everyone’s conscience in the sight of God.

• Do you see that? — followers of Jesus do not practice cunning.
• They do not indulge in deceitfulness characterizing by an especially wicked character.
• They have a different father now – the Father God, the God of our Lord Jesus Christ.
• Because they have been born again, and they do not have an evil character.
• Old things have passed away.
• Living pure places you in a position of power.
• Hear the words of Jesus concerning Satan the Serpent as we get ready to close.

Luke 10:19 (ESV) — 19 Behold, I have given you authority to tread on serpents and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy, and nothing shall hurt you.

• Satan, the Serpent, has met his match.
• It’s you in Jesus’ Name.
• You guys have a great God week, and we’ll see next time for another edition of Light on Life.

Why Doing the Word of God Is The Ticket to Success

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