Demon ID #1 — The Accuser of the Brethren

What does it mean that the devil is called, “the accuser of the brethren?” (Rev. 12:10) Why does that matter to Christians living today? How does that affect us in our daily lives?

In past blog posts, I have talked about what the devil is and why he is such a jerk. I’ve also talked generally about the different ways that the devil can tempt us. With the Demon ID series of articles, I’m going to try to get more specific. I don’t want to give any glory to the devil, I just want to help people to understand what they’re up against in order to gird themselves for battle.

Why do Bad Things Happen to Good People?

The word “Satan” is actually Hebrew and first shows up first in the Book of Job. It means accuser or adversary. Maybe it’s a title, like “prosecutor” rather than a proper name the way we use it now. I’m not a Hebrew scholar, but that might help explain why Jesus calls Peter “Satan” in Matthew 16.

Poor Job. Whether it’s a name or a title, he gets into Satan’s crosshairs. God saves his life from the accuser of the brethren but allows Job to be stripped of his material wealth, his family, and then his physical health. To make matters worse, his so-called friends come to comfort him and end up tormenting him for being an unrepentant sinner. Keep that last torment in mind. It’s important and I’ll talk about it in a moment.

Job was a good man. In the opening chapter, God Himself praises Job, saying that he is, “Blameless and upright, Fearing God and avoiding evil.” Job’s goodness enrages Satan, who asks for permission to torment Job until he curses God.

Take Up Your Cross.

Yikes! What’s the lesson for us from the book of Job? There’s a couple of them. The first one is kind of obvious. Bad things happen to good people because the devil hates good people. He comes after them with relentless persistence, and his goal is to get them to renounce God.

God does not abandon Job to this torment, and He shows up at the end of the book and restores everything that Job has lost plus interest. The Lord is just. But He does allow Job to suffer. I think it is a major consolation that Job’s blameless suffering foreshadows Christ’s own Passion., even as his restoration hints at the Resurrection. God won’t allow us to endure anything that He has not Himself suffered.

As if to highlight the fact that the devil hates and attacks good people, Jesus tells us to take up our cross and follow Him. Christian life is not a trip to Disneyland. It’s a spiritual battle. Against a fallen angel of immense power and extraordinary intelligence. If it weren’t for the outpouring of the Holy Spirit, Christians wouldn’t stand a chance.

The devil is looking for a place to attack us. If we have wealth, he’ll go after that. If we have children, watch out! Even our physical health is fair game.

Looking deeper.

What often goes unnoticed in the book of Job is the final torment. He attacks Job through his friends.

If you listen closely to the speeches given by the friends of Job, you can begin to recognize the subtle and twisted logic of the devil. He whispers lies to the friends, stirring up condescension, irritation, and finally wrath against poor wretched Job.

That very thing happens in the Gospels. Jesus even warns His disciples in John 14 that the “ruler of this world” is coming. He is coming to foment rebellion against the Savior. The very same people who carried Christ triumphantly into Jerusalem on Palm Sunday can be found shouting, “Crucify him, crucify him!” on Good Friday. The devil stirs up this change of heart in the crowd, just as he incited Job’s friends to pour salt on his misery.

So, we can see that the accuser of the brethren will come after us if we seek to do God’s will. But I think there’s an even deeper lesson here. During the Easter services every year, the congregation participates in the Gospel reading and take the role of the accusing crowd. Every year, I have to repeat, “Crucify Him, Crucify Him!” It’s a good reminder of how the devil continues to tempt me.

Not only does he come after me when I’m trying to do good, he tries to tempt me to step into the same role as Job’s friends and the faithless crowd in front of Pontius Pilate.

What do I mean, and what does that look like?

A few years ago, I had really terrible time at work. I had a conflict with my boss as well as a conflict with one of my coworkers. With my coworker, it got so bad that we walked past one another in the halls without looking at each other. To my undying shame, I exploded in anger at her during a meeting and had to apologize to her afterwards.

But these external signs masked an internal battle that raged furiously. Whenever I got an email from my boss, anger would fill me that would make it impossible for me to work for some time. I fumed and fantasized about quitting my job. I couldn’t think about my coworker without a knot tightening in my chest and scowl consuming my face.

This battle raged for months and months. Thank God for spiritual direction, which helped me see something more than workplace politics. I battled the accuser of the brethren. My boss did not deserve the anger I felt… neither did my coworker. Finally, I got deliverance prayers. The name of the demon that we prayed against was “the spirit of sorcery” and when we cast it out, I coughed so hard that I just about threw up.

I experienced tremendous relief internally and I could suddenly see how the demon infected my thoughts. This demon uses a lot of foul and vulgar language when it’s whispering into my mind. I never use vulgar language anymore, but it would creep into my thoughts when these two people came to mind. He would stir up negative emotions that consumed my attention. He even robbed me of sleep as I replayed memories of real and imagined insults. The evil one incited and provoked hate, the opposite of the love of God and fellow man that I have been trying to cultivate.

Conquer the Accuser of the Brethren.

I think that the accuser of the brethren has been busy in our country. He’s behind the chaos that prevents people with different opinions from sitting down and chatting peacefully over sandwiches. He stirs up hatred and division. And he does it by attacking good people and tempting us to attack one another.

The victory can be had through faith, hope, and love. Faith, because I know by faith that I don’t just battle against flesh and blood, but against a super jerk of a fallen angel who happens to rule the world. Hope, because I can endure any suffering since it will only last as long or be as bad as God allows… and His grace is always sufficient. And most importantly love, because nothing silences the accuser’s divisive lies quite as swiftly as looking through the lens of love at God and our enemies.

Originally published at https://nathankrupa.com on January 25, 2022.