What Can We Know About Satan?
1) Direct Answer
We can know this: Satan is a created being who fell, an adversary and deceiver. He is not God, not equal to God, not eternal like God. He works by lies, perversion, sickness, fear, and religious impersonation. His power is limited, permitted only for a season. He was judged at the Cross, is defeated for the believer, and his final end is the lake of fire.
2) Scriptural Explanation
- His origin and fall:
- He was an “anointed cherub” who fell through pride (Ezekiel 28:12-17). The Bible shows his fall: “How art thou fallen from heaven… Lucifer” (Isaiah 14:12-15). Jesus said, “I beheld Satan as lightning fall from heaven” (Luke 10:18).
- His names and realm:
- Satan means adversary (Job 1–2). He is the serpent and the dragon (Genesis 3; Revelation 12:9), “the god of this world” who blinds minds (2 Corinthians 4:4), and “the prince of the power of the air” (Ephesians 2:2).
- His limits:
- He must ask permission (Job 1–2). He is not omnipresent or omniscient; only God knows the hearts of all men (1 Kings 8:39). Resist him and he will flee (James 4:7).
- His methods:
- He tempts (Matthew 4:1-11), deceives the whole world (Revelation 12:9), accuses the brethren (Revelation 12:10), blinds minds (2 Corinthians 4:4), devours if we give place (1 Peter 5:8; Ephesians 4:27), sows tares (Matthew 13:39), and comes as an angel of light with false doctrine and signs (2 Corinthians 11:13-15; 1 Timothy 4:1; 2 Thessalonians 2:9-10).
- He binds with sickness and oppression, but Jesus loosed the captives (Job 2:7; Luke 13:16; Acts 10:38; Hebrews 2:14-15).
- Eden and the entrance of sin:
- The serpent was “more subtil” (Genesis 3:1). Satan used that beast as his instrument to corrupt the human race. The Bible speaks of “thy seed” and “her seed” (Genesis 3:15). It wasn’t eating an apple; it was a moral fall that touched conception (Genesis 3:16). Cain was “of that wicked one” (1 John 3:12). From the beginning he worked by twisting what God said—“Hath God said…?”—and he has never changed.
- His defeat and the believer’s victory:
- The Son of God was manifested “that he might destroy the works of the devil” (1 John 3:8). At the Cross, principalities and powers were spoiled (Colossians 2:15). Through death, Jesus destroyed him that had the power of death (Hebrews 2:14). Believers have authority to tread on all the power of the enemy (Luke 10:19). We overcome by the blood of the Lamb and the word of our testimony (Revelation 12:11). Our warfare is spiritual; we stand in the full armor of God (Ephesians 6:10-18; 2 Corinthians 10:4-5).
- His end:
- He will be bound for a thousand years, loosed a little season, and then cast into the lake of fire forever (Revelation 20:1-3, 7-10). Hell was prepared for the devil and his angels, not for the righteous (Matthew 25:41).
3) Simple Clarifying Logic
- It’s not two powers wrestling as equals. God is the Creator; Satan is a fallen creature. If Satan were equal to God, he would not need permission in Job. That settles it.
- Satan cannot create life. He only perverts what God made—adding, taking away, hybridizing the Word, and corrupting the flesh. God speaks truth; Satan mixes truth with error to produce deception.
- He gains ground where people agree with him. Give him no place—shut every door with repentance, the Blood, and the Word.
- His first attack is always against the Word: question it, misquote it, then deny it. The answer is simple: believe what God said, speak it, and stand there.
4) Reinforcing Statement
Stay with the Word, stay under the Blood, be filled with the Spirit, and resist the devil. He is already a defeated foe to the true believer, and his time is short.
Ask a Follow-up Question
What did the Laodicean Church Age (our age) Angel (- messenger) Say about this?
Ranked passages from the local William Branham sermon and Church Age Book database. Relevance is relative, not a statement of doctrinal certainty.
Satan's Eden
65-0829 §33
What a beautiful place. God was so satisfied till He just went back and rested from all of His works. Every tree never brought forth thorns and thistles. No berries ever come off of a thorn tree. Everything was perfect; all seeds were perfect; everything was in perfect condition. Then, when He went to take a little rest, His enemy slipped in with deceit and took it over by misinterpreting His program to His children. When He put trust in His own child, as you put trust in your daughter when she goes out at night wi...
Believest thou this?
50-0716 §15
Now, you're not saved because you feel like that you're saved. If I... If somebody'd say, "I know I'm saved, because I had a chill run through me, and so forth." That's not why I'm saved. Satan could whip me around a stump anywhere, and he can you too upon your feelings. That's right. But when I walk back and say, THUS SAITH THE LORD, my faith is built on the Word of God. And he can't whip that away. Remember. Jesus had all the qualities of the Father in Him. Do you believe that? Sure He did. All the fine gifts of...
A trumpet gives an uncertain sound
63-0114 §44
Now the enemy spy, Satan, tried to find out what could he do to break into that. So he knowed he just couldn't come out and bluff her, so the only thing that he could do was to get her on reasoning. And that's ... what God uses today to fortify his church is his Word; and Satan comes around with reasoning power. Satan knowed that was a loophole. That was a place that people would break the easiest, was at reasoning. You say, "Now, let me just reason with you. Now is it necessary?" If God said it was necessary, it's...
The Serpent's Seed
58-0928E §41
..., as I said, the Saviour or sinner? Which has got the most strength? Then the stronger had to permit the lesser. And He only does it for His glory. When He made Lucifer, He knowed he would be the devil. And He had to let it be there to show that He was the Saviour, the Christ. He had to let it happen that way. Now, don't the Bible say all things work together for good to them that love God? So what are you scared about? Let us be up and doing with a heart for any strife. Be not like dumb driven cattle, had to be be...
Questions and Answers
59-0628E §59
Satan was literally cast out of heaven by Michael the Archangel and God. And he was cast to the earth, come to the earth, got into the serpent, deceived Eve, and then has got into men, women, all down through the age on the same thing he started at the beginning ---a great big kingdom, prettier than the other fellow's, be governor over all, know-it-all. "Our denomination is the biggest; it's predominant over the others." You've heard them say, "Why, we have so many hundred preachers in our organization. We got the...