During his ministry, St. Paul spoke about a war being waged in the world that is not from the world, a war fought against Principalities and Dominions. It is a war crafted by ultra-potent, preternatural intellects, obsessed with one idea: to make man curse himself for all eternity in everlasting suffering. To fulfill this, Satan and his army have a battle plan that they are determined to execute to the end, with a persistence unparalleled in the material universe, forged by wills unable to tire, waver, or doubt. Yet, daunting as the foe is, man—aided by the grace and mercy of God—is more than capable of stopping the infernal plan in its tracks and driving a dagger into the dragon’s heart.
THE THREE WEAPONS OF SATAN
Every soul looking for sainthood in Christ has to wage a brutal war on three battlefields:
The World
The spirit of the world can be easily confused with the earth. However, the earth is part of God’s creation and is, therefore, good. On the other hand, the spirit of the world is everything that is artificial, that which is worldly—be it thoughts, words, or actions—which are always aimed at obtaining praise, compliments, or fame for the self.
“If you are the Son of God, throw yourself down. For it is written: ‘He will command his angels concerning you, and they will lift you up in their hands, so that you will not strike your foot against a stone.’” (Mt. 4:6)
The Flesh
The spirit of the flesh is the misapplication of the powers of the body, for the sole purpose of self-amusement. It is the misusage of the means of procreation and nutrition given by God to man for his multiplication and nourishment. In essence, the spirit of the flesh is an agency used by Satan to make the temple of the Holy Spirit—the body—a house of gluttons, bandits, and prostitutes. It is his business to make man feed from false diamonds.
“If you are the Son of God, tell these stones to turn into bread.” (Mt. 4:3)
The Devil
The word “Devil” derives from the Latin diábolos, which in itself derives from the Greek διάβολος, meaning “slanderer.” He is a fallen angel, deformed by his fall, the first protestor against the Divine Will, and author of all evil.
From the dungeons of his eternal gloom, he casts his shadow upon the world in an attempt to make all things into his image and likeness. His will is to make mankind go against itself by trading an eternal good for a temporary advantage at the expense of the soul. His energy is forever focused on making man worship himself and become a monster.
“All this I will give you, if you bow down and worship me.” (Mt. 4:9)
THE FOUR TACTICS
Every strategy worth its salt requires powerful tactics to be successful. The devil, being a fallen angelic intellect, is a top strategist and a master tactician who knows the exact formula for the demise of every soul. Only the mercy of God prevents him from total success.
To achieve maximum results within the scope of his divinely imposed limits, the enemy of mankind uses four tactics to disarm and doom a soul:
Deception
The devil is incompatible with the truth. In order to operate, he needs his victims to believe that what is false is true. Therefore, his first attack will always be directed towards misdirecting the steps of his victims in order to separate them from God.
Division
Where there is unity, the devil is absent. Just like an atomic explosion requires the division of the atom, so too does the enemy of man require division to triumph over a soul.
The main objective of division is to break a form and rebuild it in deformity. Cracks serve the enemy as platforms for spiritual disease and agents of confusion. Satan is the embodiment and the origin of the antediluvian stratagem “divide and conquer.”
Diversion
The human soul has an instinct for God. To subdue it, the enemy turns that instinct against itself. To achieve this, he must divert the powers of the spirit away from their natural inclination and feed them with useless entertainment. “Anything but God” is the fire behind the smoke of diversion.
The grand objective of the enemy’s diversionary attacks is to make sure that his victims arrive at the divine tribunal empty-handed, or even better, proud of their sins, so that they will be forever lost.
Despair
Hope is fuel to the soul. Without it, man cannot obtain either charity or faith. Satan knows that if he deprives an individual of hope, his spiritual faculties will be paralyzed.
The aim of despair is both physical and spiritual suicide.
THE FOUR LEVELS OF ATTACK
Fallen angels are shrewd. They aim for nothing less than to inflict maximum damage on their victims and to extract the highest degree of pain. Demonic attack can be of either an ordinary or extraordinary nature. It has four degrees of intensity:
Temptation
Temptation is the only form of ordinary attack on a soul and the most common. Despite their hideous deformation of will, the devil and his army retain their angelic nature. They know beauty much more intimately than humans. Hence, they can embellish the ugly and make the atrocious look virtuous.
Making evil look like good is the devil’s most powerful bait to hook souls.
Vexation
The devil knows that big trees are not cut down by a single stroke. Big becomes small when one becomes many. To drive a stake into the heart of a soul, the enemy launches a series of small but constant attacks on his victim’s environment, focusing mainly on his affections, health, and wealth. In disrupting the channels of prosperity, the devil ignites a guerrilla war in a person’s life.
Obsession
The devil will not be content with ravaging a victim’s material environment. If he finds open doors, he will shatter his victim’s mental landscape by implanting persistent and unnatural thoughts disconnected from objective reality. The goal is isolation, mental imprisonment, and, if possible, insanity.
Possession
Material reality has a great impact on the human physique. To maximize trauma, the enemy will take control of the body and denigrate it by making it act like an animal, reptile, or insect. In this fashion, he desecrates the image and likeness of God in man.
This is the outline of Satan’s plan for the demise of all mankind. Yet, cunning as his strategy is, it is harmless against the power of God that we inherit in the sacraments. Fr. Gabriel Amorth once said that the Sacrament of Reconciliation is more potent than an exorcism. The situation is even more helpless for the enemy when he attacks those who hold fast to the Blessed Virgin Mary, for she crushes the serpent’s head with her heel (see Gen. 3:15).
“Be alert and of sober mind. Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour.” (1 Pet. 5:8)
Image from Wikimedia Commons
