Do Not Be Deceived

On Perception and the Demonic

In my Psychology and Christianity class we were in a unit discussing faith and mental health. I was sharing insights from The Shape of Joy. I described our cosmic mattering, our existential significance, as an “ontic fact.” Our value and worth simply is, as factually “there” as rainbows and raccoons.

Pushing further, I went on to say that our feelings of insecurity and insignificance are, therefore, “demonic delusions.” Shame is a diabolical hallucination tricking us from seeing something that is ontologically staring us in the face, the ontic factualness of our value and significance. “Satan is,” I reminded the class, “the Father of Lies.”

Sometimes the things I say aloud in class surprise me. Something swims into view I had not put into words before. Describing shame as a demonic delusion and a diabolical hallucination made me ponder how the power of Satan is described in Scripture as primarily that of deception and misperception.

As I shared with my class, in John 8 Jesus describes Satan this way: “He does not stand in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he lies, he speaks according to his own nature, for he is a liar and the father of lies.”

2 Corinthians 11:14 highlights Satan’s deception and disguise: “Even Satan disguises himself as an angel of light.” Revelation 12:9 echos this: “The great dragon…that ancient serpent, who is called the Devil and Satan, the deceiver of the whole world.”

Beyond deception, there is also blinding. 2 Corinthians 4:4: “The god of this world has blinded the minds of the unbelievers, to keep them from seeing the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ.”

2 Thessalonians 2:9–11 describes the Man of Lawlessness. A power of this diabolical agent is one of mass delusion: “The coming of the lawless one is by the activity of Satan with all power and false signs and wonders…and for this reason God sends them a strong delusion, so that they may believe what is false.” In the book of Revelation the Beasts are also described as having the power of creating mass deception: “It performs great signs, even making fire come down from heaven to earth in front of people, and by the signs that it is allowed to work...it deceives those who dwell on earth.” (Rev. 13:13–14).

Summarizing, Satan’s power is perceptual and epistemic. Disguises. Lies. Delusions. Blindness. Deceptions.

This is interesting because I think we mostly we think of Satan’s power as that of desire and lustful enticement. But James 1:14-18 connects desire to deception:

But each person is tempted when they are dragged away by their own evil desire and enticed. Then, after desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and sin, when it is full-grown, gives birth to death.

Don’t be deceived, my dear brothers and sisters. Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights, who does not change like shifting shadows. He chose to give us birth through the word of truth...

Desire, in this view, is like shifting shadows. Desire is misperception. Desire is not seeing clearly.

And so, the imperative is clear:

Do not be deceived.