Fr. Thomas M. Pastorius
September 13, 2015
Spiritual Ponderings
The Devil’s Ways

There were three student devils in hell who were about to accompany their teacher to earth for some on-the-job training. Their internship supervisor asked them what techniques they planned to use to get people to sin.

The first little devil said, “I think I’ll use the classical approach. I’ll tell people, ‘There is no God, so sin up a storm and enjoy life.’”

The second little devil said, “I think I’ll use a more subtle approach. I’ll tell people ‘There is no hell, so sin up a storm and enjoy life.”

The third little devil said, “I think I’ll use a less intellectual approach. I’ll tell people, ‘There is no hurry, so sin up a storm and enjoy life.’”

To which little devil have you listened to lately?

While I was studying the art of spiritual direction and the rules of St. Ignatius of Loyola, one of the older priests stood up and said that the devil only has two lies. The first lie is that “you are not good enough,” and the second lie is that “you are alone.” He went on to explain that we know that these are lies because with God everything is possible and Jesus is “Emmanuel” (God with us). It was this priest’s conviction that all our sins come down to believing one of these two lies from the devil.

Neal Lozano in his book Unbound: A Practical Guide to Deliverance makes the following observations:
1. The word devil actually means accuser or slanderer. By twisting God’s words, questioning God’s motives, making empty promises and presenting evil as good, Satan captured Adam and Eve, and they submitted to his rule…
Suddenly they were afraid of God and no longer received or perceived his love for them. They were also afraid of themselves, so they covered their bodies. That fear is in every person. Many of us deny it. We spend our lives trying to over it.

2. Afraid, self-absorbed, caring for themselves and not God, Adam and Eve began to act like the serpent, accusing each other, defending their actions and forgetting what God was really like. They believed the lie. They could no longer trust God with their lives. The serpent had stolen their hearts.

I know that when I do an examination of conscience and I examen my sins, I find fear and one of those two lies behind all of my sins. Gossip for example, is a combination of the fear of someone seeing my fault and that if people know the real me they would leave me (I am alone). I therefore begin to point out other people’s faults in the hope to direct people’s attention away from my faults. The truly sad part about this is that I know that people don’t want to be around someone who is always pointing out theirs or others people faults and that most of my friendships deepen when I allow myself to be honest with others about my shortcoming. Another example is the fear of not being good enough or capable enough often leads us to cheat or exaggerate our accomplishments.

How do we overcome these lies? How do we learn to trust more in God? We must spend more time focusing on God and remembering all the good He is doing with us. Neal Lozano puts it this way: “ Deliverance is not more about the devil than the Exodus was about Pharaoh. Rather, deliverance from evil spirits removes obstacles so we may receive, in Christ, the Father’s blessing.”

The Secret Service when training its agents to identify counterfeit bills has their agents study real money and not the thousands of fake currency. They know that the more familiar they are with the real stuff the easier it will become to identify the false stuff. In the same way the more we learn about God’s Truth the easier it will be to discover the devil’s lies.

I also encourage you to pray the prayer of St. Michael.
Saint Michael the Archangel, Defend us in battle. Be our protection against the wickedness and snares of the devil; May God rebuke him; we humbly pray; And do thou O Prince of the heavenly host, By the power of God, thrust into hell Satan and all evil spirits Who wander through the world For the ruin of souls. Amen