Satan's Snares Today

In the main, Satan's tricks have not changed over the centuries. In order for Christians living in the corrupt city of Corinth not to be  "overreached by Satan," the apostle Paul gave them strong counsel.  He said:  "We are not ignorant of [Satan's] designs." (2 Corinthians 2:11) In many developed countries, the situation  today is similar to that prevailing in the Roman Empire in its heyday.  Many people have more leisure time than ever. State lotteries give even the poor glimmer of hope.  There is plenty of cheap entertainment to occupy people's minds.  Sports stadiums get violent, and players often do. Degrading music fills  people's ears, and lewd shows occupy theater stages as well as movie and TV screens. In some countries, mixed bathing in saunas and hot springs is popular, not to mention nude bathing on some beaches.  Just as in the early centuries of Christianity, Satan tries to entice God's servants by means of worldly leisure activities.

In a  world where stress is common, it is normal to feel the need to unwind or to get away from it all.  However, just as the Roman baths included features that were potentially dangerous for the early Christians, some vacation facilities and resorts  have proved to be a trap Satan has used  to lead modern-day Christians into immorality or over drinking.  Paul wrote to the Christians in Corinth:  "Do not be misled. Bad associations spoil useful habits.  Wake up to soberness in a righteous way and do not practice sin, for some are  without knowledge of God." -1 Corinthians 15:3,34. 

We have seen in the case of Eve how Satan used cunning to corrupt;t her thinking.  (2 Corinthians 11:3) Today, one of the Devil's  snares is to lead Christians into thinking that if they go as far as possible in trying to show that Jehovah's Witnesses are just like other people, they will succeed in drawing some Christian truth. Sometimes they go too far, and the reverse occurs.  (Haggai 2:12-14)  Another of Satan's tricks is to embolden dedicated Christians, both young ones and adults, to live double lives and 'grieve God's holy spirit.' (Ephesians  4:30) Some have fallen into this trap through the abuse of the Internet. 

Another of Satan's snares is disguised occultism.  No true Christian would deliberately dabble in Satanism or spiritism. Yet, some unwittingly  let their guard down when it comes to films, TV series, video games, and even children's books and comics that highlight violence or uncanny practices.  Anything that smacks of the occult needs to be kept at a distance.  The wise proverb states:  "Thorns and traps are in the way of  the crooked one; he that is guarding his soul keeps far away from them." (Proverbs 22:5)  Since Satan is "the god of this system of things," anything that is very popular could possibly hide one of his traps. -2 Corinthians 4:4; 1 John 2:15, 16.

Next time: Jesus Opposed the Devil 

From the Watchtower magazine, 2002