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.
How can I overcome?
63-0825M §76
But see how the devil gets? The devil wants you to mind him. He minded only what the Father said do. That's right. He said... Why, Satan said, "It's written he'll give the angels charge to..." He said, "Yes, but it's also written." There you are. See, He knew who He was. Satan did... The thought runs deeper than what is wrote. See, it's inspiration. The kernel is on the inside of it (you see?), what it really is. Though He could've done it, He didn't do it. But He never paid heed to Satan's proposition. Now, here's...
The Resurrection
53-1205 §3
And then he took Him upon the pinnacle of the temple, and then he taken him from there upon a mountain. And here's what shocks we people. And He showed Him all the kingdoms of the world in a moment of time. Just think of that. In other words, He just opened up, and He saw all the kingdoms of the world: United States, Russia, Great Britain, all of them. He said, "These are mine," Satan did. Jesus knowed they was his. He said, "And I will give them to You if You'll fall down and worship me." See? But Jesus knew in th...
Thirst
65-0919 §66
Knowledge---do you know Satan's gospel is knowledge? You know that? He preached it in the garden of Eden to Eve, but she was deceived by his knowledge gospel. Now, and it's polluted the whole human race with it. That's exactly right. They took educational programs, put them in the church. They're all right out there, but not in God's Word. No, sir. You don't know God by education. You don't know God by knowing how ... learning mathematics, and pronouncing big words. Paul, he was a smart man. But when he come to Chr...
To take on the whole armor of God
62-0701 §50
But Satan makes it appealing. Certainly. It's appealing. Sin's appealing. But the enemy keeps finding a better bait. He'll strip her off a little more, and do this, and do that. And don't worry, he'll never make her completely naked. She'd be horrible then. See, he knows just what to do. But Satan keeps bringing sin in. And that was the original sin. That's the way he's going out: with the same thing as the kingdom come in, the warfare. Now watch. But God doesn't have to do anything more to his, make it any more ap...
The Serpent's Seed
58-0928E §70
What did he do? He begin making love to Eve. And he lived with her as a husband. And she saw it was pleasant, so she went and told her husband; but she was already pregnant by Satan. And she brought forth her first son whose name was Cain, the son of Satan. "Now," you say, "that's wrong." All right, we'll just find out whether it's wrong or not. "And I will put enmity between thy seed and the serpent's seed." What? The serpent's seed. She had a seed, and he had a seed. "And he shall bruise thy head, and you shall b...