Lucipher

Underestimating your enemy whether in combat or competition is always disastrous. It's a lot safer to overestimate your enemy's abilities, but I can't say I've ever done that. Unfortunately, many Christians and fringe believers have relegated Lucipher to the Darth Maul type figure from our childhood, when in reality he's a master of his craft and there is no beating him one on one. The Charlie Daniels song "Devil Went Down to Georgia" makes great folklore, but that's all it is. The real ending to that song would end with the fiddler smoldering in fire and brimstone.

My understanding of the devil has changed over the last few years. I would credit 4 influences: The book "Seeing the Unseen", the movie "Devil's Advocate", the movie "The Usual Suspects" and personal experience.

In the words of Chip Ingram, "I'm not saying I see a demon behind every bush", but I am definitely more aware of satanic forces at work in the world. I've often viewed myself as falling victim only to my own sinful nature or just a victim of coincidences, but I now view my life and everyone's lives differently with the understanding that spiritual forces are at war all of our souls. I'm not saying I give myself a free pass, just that there is much more to temptation than a little voice of a felt puppet on one shoulder. If you don't realize that then listen to the last line from the Usual Suspects.

If that doesn't make sense to you then puruse through Devil's Advocate. It's a horrible movie with lots of disgusting stuff that you need to fast forward through, but it depicts Satan's schemes very well, especially the last scene.

The interesting thing is that overcoming Satan ultimately is not a matter of trying harder, but much prayer. Just look at how Jesus did it.