"The devil took Jesus to a very high mountain and showed Him all the kingdoms of the world and their glory; and he said to Him, ‘All these things I will give You if You fall down and worship me.’" Matthew 4:8-9

Jesus did not dispute that Satan possessed the kingdoms of the world and had the power to give them to whomever he wished.

 Jesus had come to suffer and die to redeem man, but Satan knew that He would come again in glorious power to establish Himself as the King of kings and rule the world. The devil was saying, "why go through the suffering? - I will give you the kingdoms of the world now if you will only join my cause and serve me."

Paul wrote that Satan is the "god of this world" and John wrote that the "whole world lies in the power of the evil one." You might wonder why Satan would give up those kingdoms since he is so power hungry - but he knows that he is no match for God and that one day he will be destroyed in hell.

Satan is the "god of this world" and desires to be worshiped. Satan is religious. But you will not find him working only among Satanists who worship him by name. If you look for him only in the camp of Satanists or pagan religions, you will miss his greatest work of deception still. He is the great deceiver and the father of lies. Paul warned the Corinthians that Satan sometimes comes as a messenger of light, though he is the prince of darkness.

Satan’s greatest work is deceiving people into receiving him in the name of Jesus or Christianity. He is an expert at presenting "another Jesus" and a "different gospel" and even "another spirit" instead of the Holy Spirit. "But I am afraid that, as the serpent deceived Eve by his craftiness, your minds will be led astray from the simplicity and purity of devotion to Christ. For if one comes and preaches another Jesus whom we have not preached, or you receive a different spirit which you have not received, or a different gospel which you have not accepted you (may) bear this beautifully." (2 Cor.11)

We must understand that this beloved Apostle of Christ knew that Satan was working in the Church just as he worked in the garden where he deceived Eve. To Eve he came as a serpent and to the Church he comes as a messenger of light who presents a counterfeit Jesus, counterfeit gospel and a counterfeit spirit. In Eden he drew into question the veracity of God’s Word and the woman doubted God and believed the serpent and disobeyed God. In the Church he comes in the form of false teachers whose aim also is to draw into question the veracity of God’s Word in order to deceive people into forsaking Christ and the Commandments of God. Beware the schemes of the devil.