Not only is Satan the "prince of this world" (see John 12:31), he is also called the "god of this world" and has "blinded the minds" of the lost to the light of the gospel:

Satan is a spiritual being that was given the authority by Yahweh to operate as the "prince" and "god" of this physical world. He uses his demons, which are also spiritual beings, to help him gain access to natural bodies in order to carry out his work in this natural world.

He gains influence over our bodies by instilling thoughts into our minds that we are willing to accept. Employing the same tools that he used to deceive Eve in the Garden of Eden (see Genesis 3), Satan uses a powerful combination of worldly enticements to deceive the lost into worshipping him as the "god of this world:"

In exchange for their worship, Satan offers to share with them part of the power and glory of his earthly kingdom (see Luke 4:4).

Satan’s demons have such a strong desire to operate from within physical bodies that, if they are not given access to human bodies, they will try to inhabit the bodies of other creatures. In one example, which occurred as Yahshua (Jesus) was casting out a large number of devils (demons) from an afflicted man, they pleaded with Him for permission to enter into the bodies of swine. They would have rather dwelt in pigs than to be cast into "the deep," which is the abyss that is often called the "bottomless pit" and is the abode of disembodied spirits:

Demonic spirits afflict men, as shown in the above example, and they also afflict women, as with Mary Magdalene:

They afflict boys, as in the example of a father asking Yahshua to cast out a demonic spirit that was trying to destroy his son:

Demonic spirits also afflict girls:

Satan’s powerful influence over righteous kings, such as David, is clear:

Even the twelve disciples that Yahshua personally chose to accompany Him in His earthly ministry were vulnerable to the workings of Satan. Judas succumbed to him:

Even Peter was severely tested by Satan:

From this, we can only conclude that none of us is immune from the attacks of the power of Satan. However, although Satan, in his pride, wants to be God, he is a created being. As such, he is under the power and authority of his Creator, which is Yahweh. While Satan wants to be worshipped as God, he is not Yahweh.

Therefore, even though Satan has power over earthly kingdoms, he does not have all power. As we learn from the example of Job, Satan can only do that which Yahweh allows him to do. Even though He gave Satan permission to afflict Job, Yahweh set boundaries for him. First, Yahweh gave Satan the power to afflict everything that Job possessed, but would not allow him to touch Job himself:

Later, however, Yahweh extended Satan’s power to personally afflict Job. Nevertheless, He would not allow Satan to take his life:

Therefore, based on the example of Job, we can conclude that Satan must receive permission from Yahweh to afflict us. Furthermore, even after Yahweh grants him that permission, He has the power to limit the degree of Satan’s attacks upon us.

How, we might ask, is Satan able to get permission from Yahweh to gain access to us in the first place? The simple answer to that question is that Yahweh will not give Satan that permission as long as we wear His protective shield, which is called "the whole armor of God." It enables us to stand against Satan’s deceitful methods of operation:

If we have on the "whole armor of God," then we are covered from our heads to our feet. We are protected with truth, righteousness, and the gospel of peace. Using the shield of faith, we fully trust in Yahweh for our salvation. Equipped with the Word of God, we have a weapon that we can use like a mighty sword that is powered by the Spirit of God:

To be fully equipped with the "whole armor of God," we must be indued with the power of His Spirit and be continually praying to Yahweh for His protection. While we pray, we must also be patiently watching and waiting for the enemy to come, fully trusting in Yahweh to deliver us from the power of the "prince of this world:"

We should not, however, naively believe that having on the "whole armor of God" will stop our spiritual battles. Satan has unleashed his demonic spirits like a flood of water to destroy the woman (which are the people of God and are often called the "Bride of Christ"):

Satan’s flood of demonic spirits enters into those that have accepted his offer for worldly power and glory and uses them as the tools by which to wage war on the saints of God (see Daniel 7:21; Revelation 13:7). Operating from positions of high places of worldly influence, they perform their spiritual wickedness through the powerful leaders and rulers of the darkness of this world:

Consequently, we encounter trial after trial, temptation after temptation, and persecution after persecution as Satan unleashes his minions of spiritual warriors against us. Operating through deceived evil men (and women) they plant deceiving thoughts into our minds:

Maintaining the effectiveness of the "whole armor of God" requires that we, as Jude warns, diligently and earnestly contend for the faith in the true gospel. The "evil men and seducers" have crept among us unnoticed:

(To Be Continued)