SATAN – Our Adversary
J. D. CONLEY

No one relishes the thought of having enemies. The truth about having enemies is something we disdain even more. As peace loving people, Christians do not enjoy dwelling on the fact that they indeed have enemies. Sometimes, this aversion spawns a lapse of memory. Since we do not like to think about enemies, we at times may forget that we have enemies. Is it possible that we have pushed our knowledge of the supreme enemy, Satan, to the remote recesses of our mind?

We hear a lot today about "raising our consciousness," yet how often do we relegate Satan's existence to our sub-conscience? We do not like to think about him, so we don't. The church needs to be reminded that it has a foe so formidable, so clever, and so ruthless, that he will stop at nothing to utterly destroy us! A forgotten enemy is the most dangerous enemy. Therefore Peter declares, "Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil. as a roaring lion, walketh about seeking whom he may devour" (1 Pet. 5:8). Our foe is restless, fearless, ferocious, hungry, and on the hunt! He is on a deliberate search for Christians. He is always plotting and calculating ways in which to trap us and then devour us. He has already eaten and digested the world, he eyes us, the church. as a sweet and delectable dessert.

Consider these descriptions of Satan recorded by John the revelator. He is called "the great dragon." "that old serpent." and "the devil" (Rev. 12:9). The Scriptures contain other nomenclatures. but these mentioned in Revelation chapter 12 all refer to Satan's vicious manner.

Furthermore, consider just a few of his traits: he is subtle, wily. and deceitful (Gen. 3: 1: Eph. 6: 11: Rev. 12:9). He is intelligent, (2 Cor. 11: 14). He is active, not lazy. He is busy. He is not omnipresent, but he "gets around" (Job 1: 7). He gives the term "multi-task" a whole new meaning!

In summation. Satan is our enemy. His very name means "adversary." He is our top nemesis. Our most hostile and nefarious foe. Christians cannot afford to forget about him for a moment. Satan loves forgetful Christians. A forgotten enemy is the worst kind to have and Satan is the worst of the worst. May we ever be on guard!