Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour. 1 Peter 5:8
The devil's methods haven't changed much since the garden. he still comes in subtly, that's why the word of God warns us that he can disguise himself as an angel of light (2Corinthians 11:14). Here is how he mostly (if not always) works:
- he twists/changes God's word ( Genesis 3:4, Matthew 4:5)
- he questions God's authority (Genesis 3:1, Matthew 4:3)
- he plants seeds of confusion, doubt, deception and rebellion
- he lies (John 8:44, 2 Thessalonians 2:9-10)
- he comes through/uses our senses (especially sight), our will, desires and the love of wisdom (Genesis 3:6, Matthew 4:8)
- he wants to hide us from the simplicity of the gospel of Christ (2 corinthians 11:3, Galatians 1:6-12, Luke 8:11-12)
All of these are doorways to disobedience and mostly man's way of dealing with disobedience towards God is to hide, because of the guilt and shame. Everybody knows when they're sinning against God. You can say that you don't believe in God all you want but whenever you sin then conviction kicks in because everyone of us has been given a conscious. Through that conscious God communicates to us, even those that don't believe in Him. The conscious is something that is hard to ignore, it will eat you up inside despite how tough you might try to come off outwardly. Unfortunately, most people tend to suppress their conscious because they love their sins and are by nature children of disobedience.
(Romans 2:14-15, Ephesians 2:2)
People tend to want to hide behind a mask but what they don't know is that its impossible to hide from God. Another way that people tend to want to fool God is by becoming religious. (Isaiah64:6, Galatians 6:7)
They think they can bribe God by their good deeds and outward perfomances, this has always been the case since the fall of Adam and Eve. When our ancestral parents sinned, they suddenly realized that they were naked and because of their shame they hid from God. They found out soon enough that it was impossible to hide from the Almighty God;
And the eyes of them both were opened, and they knew that they were naked; and they sewed fig leaves together, and made themselves aprons.
Before they ate from the forbidden tree they walked with God as His children and were covered by His glory but once they disobeyed the glory of the Lord left them and they were left there bare naked before God. Their eyes were open to the fact that they had sinned against God and the first thing they did was to try and hide behind the fig leaves, they thought that they could fool God by covering themselves outwardly.
And they heard the voice of the Lord God walking in the garden in the cool of the day: And Adam and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the Lord God amongst the trees of the garden.
This is exactly what we see happening even to this day to sinners, they know they are sinners because of their God given conscious and they know they are guilty so they hide from God.
And the man said, The woman whom thou gavest to be with me, she gave me of the tree, and I did eat. And the Lord God said unto the woman, What is this that thou hast done? And the woman said, The serpent beguiled me, and I did eat.
Another thing that people tend to do is to blame someone else for their sins. Sinners always make excuses for their sins and they don't want to take full responsibilty for their disobedience, some go as far as blaming God;
The homosexual claims to have been born that way. Most homosexuals are deceived into thinking that God made them that way, some however know that their 'lifestyle' is a sin against God but they refuse to admit that so they'd rather blame God for their disobedience.
One of the biggest tools that Satan has used to keep people in bondage and give them false hope is religion! And the way that he plants those seeds of religion is through the soul, working on people's desires, emotions and will. People who are religious are very emotionally attached to their beliefs, no matter how false and illogical they might be. Satan uses their emotions to keep them bound to their traditions and outward performances. These are the fig leaves that people hide behind in ignorance and selfishness, thinking that they can bribe God by their actions and self-righteousness. But God sees the heart and is a discerner of thoughts. Your good deeds are not going to cover your shame before God. A religious person leans on their own understanding and they trust in their heart and what feels good and they will refuse to accept the truth out of pride and selfishness, choosing to follow men and their teaching rather than humbling themselves before God.
The devil created religion because he doesn't want people to come to the promised Messiah Jesus Christ who was the promised deliverer from the beginning. When Adam and Eve sinned, God in His mercy and love promised them a deliverer that would crush the serpent's head, delivering us from the penalty of death. Satan knew about this promise and he has been trying since the beginning to deceive people, distracting them with religion and attacking the anointed Saviour Jesus Christ. All Satan's wants is to see people die in their sins so they can join him in the lake of fire. So he has given people all kinds of ways to follow, blinding their mind from the truth. (2 Corinthians 4:3-4) Satan has convinced the world that there are many ways to God, especially to those that are religious. And to those that aren't he has convinced them that God and the Bible are only a fairytale. Satan has a custom made lie for all kinds of individuals and groups. All those who are not under the blood of Christ are in Satan's prison.