Nothing in Paul’s epistles warns us to be aware of physical satanic appearances. We will never see a Satan who is seen as a red evil looking character carrying a pitchfork, no he is a subtle deceiver. The way Satan operates today is by using false doctrine, invisibly.

“For such are false apostles, deceitful workers, transforming themselves into the apostles of Christ.¹⁴ And no marvel; for Satan himself is transformed into an angel of light. ¹⁵ Therefore it is no great thing if his ministers also be transformed as the ministers of righteousness; whose end shall be according to their works.” (2 Corinthians 11:13-15 KJV)

The Scriptures affirm that Satan can and does “transform himself into an angel of light” (2Cor. 11:13-15); his nature and works can and do appear very innocent, very godly, although they are counterfeit and deceptive. Satan’s false “ministers of righteousness” misled people in time past, so they do today… through religion. During His earthly ministry, Jesus Christ had more rebukes for Israel’s religious leaders than for any other group. Satan is shrewd; someone who knows how to operate and avoid being discovered most of the time. The Devil still uses corrupt religious leaders, people whose spiritual wickedness is rarely noticed, by them or others.

What are Satan’s limitations in influencing people today?

These are not clearly delineated in Scripture, but here is what the Scriptures say about that matter. The Devil used a false prophet to attempt to physically hinder the Apostle Paul from reaching a Gentile with the Gospel (cf. Acts 13:6-12). Satan used a mysterious “thorn in the flesh” to discourage Paul and physically disrupt God’s ministry through him (2 Corinthians 12:7-10). We will see more about this later.

Satan’s principal goal is to use false religion (performance-based religion), counterfeit miracles, counterfeit Bible versions, false brethren, false ministers, etc., to influence (deceive) people, whether saved or lost. He works to distract us from God’s truth for today, as he distracted Eve and the Galatians.

“But I fear, lest by any means, as the serpent beguiled Eve through his subtilty, so your Minds Should Be Corrupted from the simplicity that is in Christ. ⁴ For if he that cometh preacheth another Jesus (Savior), whom we have not preached, or if ye receive another spirit, which ye have not received, or another gospel, which ye have not accepted, ye might well bear with him.” (2Cor. 11:3-4)

The way Satan operates today is to use corrupted non-dispensational Bible study, to make us focus on any false gospel that Paul, our Apostle, did not teach. These usually focus on the Jesus of Nazareth in His earthly ministry to Israel, whom Paul did not preach; see below.

“… henceforth (hereafter) know we no man after the flesh: yea, though we have known Christ after the flesh (in His earthly ministry to Israel), yet now henceforth know we him (Jesus of Nazareth) no more.” (2 Cor. 5:16)

Satan wants us to ignore the resurrected “Christ according to the revelation of the mystery” (Rom 16:25-26, 2Cor 5:16) that Paul received and preached and instead focus on the earthly ministry of Jesus, which was for Israel under the Law (Mat. 15:24 Rom. 15:8), not for us Gentiles. Satan wants us to ignore the “spiritual” mindset and viewpoint of “the grace of God” that Paul preached (Rom. 6:14-15; Rom. 8:15), and to observe the “the Law” as the means of Christian living (Gal. 3:1-3). Satan wants us to ignore “the Gospel of the Grace of God” (Act 20:24, cf. 1Cor. 15:3-4), to believe what Paul called “another (false) Gospel” for salvation, as Acts 2:38.

Paul, wrote; “Beware lest any man spoil you through philosophy and vain deceit, after the (religious) tradition of men, after the rudiments of the world, and not after Christ.” (Col. 2:8). Satan uses religion’s philosophy, church tradition, and secular wisdom to mislead. Rather than dispensational Bible study, the ideas of man-based religion are used in most churches, denominations, and Bible schools, to “explain” the Bible.

Paul wrote in 2 Cor. 4:1-2 (below), speaking of his current ministry serving the Lord Jesus Christ “as the Apostle of the Gentiles,” (Rom 11:13) and admitting how he had given up his prior ministry as a lost man, when he was a Pharisee, called Saul of Tarsus, when he served Satan in the corrupted Judaistic system.

“Therefore seeing we have this ministry, as we have received mercy, we faint not; ²But have renounced the hidden things of dishonesty, not walking in craftiness, nor handling the word of God deceitfully; but by manifestation of the truth commending ourselves to every man’s conscience in the sight of God.”

Even today, there are people in religion who “walk in craftiness,” those “handling the word of God deceitfully.” We see this at its worst on much of so-called ‘Christian TV’…. may we not be fooled! Paul wrote; “Let no man beguile you of your reward in a voluntary humility and worshipping of angels, intruding into those things which he hath not seen, vainly puffed up by his “fleshly mind”….” (Col. 2:18).

Satan would love to have men focus on angels and canonized “saints,” instead of Jesus Christ, this explains the case of demonic “angelic appearances,” “apparitions,” “Holy Ghost encounters,” and all the other religious phenomena often discussed today. Such idolatry can take even the subtlest forms, but the student grounded in God’s Word rightly divided will withstand the duplicity of Satan’s trickeries.

Paul wrote; “Now the (Holy) Spirit speaketh expressly, that in the latter times some shall depart from the faith, giving heed to seducing spirits, and doctrines of devils; Speaking lies in hypocrisy; having their conscience seared with a hot iron…” (1Timothy 4:1-2) Satan has preaching “spirits,” in voices of men speaking “doctrines of devils.” (2 Thes. 2:8). Verses 3-5 talk about forced celibacy for religious purposes and abstaining from certain meats/foods for religious purposes as being “doctrines of devils.” These would be some of the teachings Satan would advocate and which make religious people feel good about themselves. Paul wrote; “But if our gospel be hid, it is hid to them that are lost: ⁴In whom the god of this world hath blinded the minds of them which believe not, lest the light of the glorious gospel of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine unto them.” (2Cor. 4:3-4) Satan blinds people by having them focus on works-based religion instead of Jesus Christ’s finished crosswork… making them feel good about themselves. They really believe they can do enough religious works or measure up to God’s standard of righteousness. All they are really doing is causing themselves to be under a curse; “For as many as are of the works of the law are under the curse: for it is written (Deut. 27:26), Cursed is every one that continueth not in all things which are written in the book of the law to do them” (Gal. 3:10). “The law worketh wrath…” (Rom. 4:15a). James 2:10 summarizes, “For whosoever shall keep the whole law, and yet (but) offend in one point, he is guilty of all.”

The great problem with a performance-based acceptance systems of religion is that they say “do good and God will bless you,” you have to perform 100 percent perfectly to be blessed of God, and sin always makes us fall short of absolute righteousness. Jesus Christ came to “redeem us from the curse of the law, being made a curse for us: for it is written, Cursed is every one that hangeth on a tree…” (Gal. 3:13). The Lord Jesus came to die for our sins, to die in our place, to receive the curse that we sinners deserve. He took our punishment, that when we trust in Him and His finished crosswork alone, we can have His righteousness (2 Cor. 5:21).

Paul’s advice to Timothy in 2 Tim. 2:24-26 concerns how we escape Satan’s trap of religious deception:

“… servant of the Lord must not strive… be gentle unto all men, apt to teach, patient, ²⁵In meekness instructing those that oppose themselves; if (so that) God peradventure will give them repentance to the acknowledging of the truth; ²⁶And that they may recover themselves out of the snare of the devil, who are taken captive by him at his will.”

The Scriptures tell us some Christian women had “already turned aside after Satan” (1Tim. 5:15) by not heeding the doctrine presented in Paul’s earlier verses. We are to acknowledge that Paul is “the apostle to the Gentiles” (Rom. 11:13). Our doctrine, duty, walk, and destiny as members of “the Church the Body of Christ” is seen in Paul’s epistles, Romans through Philemon. These are words of God to us. We study all of the Bible, for it is all God’s Word; but, God’s Word to us and about us is Romans through Philemon.

“Put on the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to stand against the wiles [schemes, tricks] of the devil” (Eph. 6:11). We have only mentioned some of Satan’s schemes against which we need to guard ourselves. We need to have a constant dispensational approach to Scripture, a continual contemplation on those verses of the Word of God rightly divided. This is how we guard ourselves from Satan’s error and ruin.