Here are just nine of Satan’s manipulation tactics:

1. Assaulting our Identity

Studies on concentration camp prisoners who had been brainwashed during the Korean war
uncovered a chilling reality: brainwashing begins by assaulting a victim’s identity. Message after
message, lie after lie, the victim’s sense of self becomes eroded with the accuser’s whispers:

Who do you think you are? You’re a horrible excuse for a soldier. You were never fighting for a
worthy cause. Everything you’ve believed is a lie.

Controlling partners in abusive relationships leverage this same technique, repeatedly telling the
victim she’s not lovable, not pretty enough, too stupid to handle life on her own…the list continues.
Should it be any surprise that Satan does the same to us? How many of his lies, from Your worth is
in your physical appeal to No one will love you with your kind of past, attack our value and identity
in Christ? Fight back by listening to what your Heavenly Father says about you instead.

2. Guilt

After assaulting their victims’ identity, brainwashers’ next step is to smother those victims in guilt,
shame and humiliation. Isn’t that how Satan works, too? Scripture exposes Satan as “the accuser of
our brothers and sisters, who accuses them before our God day and night” (Revelation 10:22). But
Hebrews 10:19-22 reveals the secret to fighting this accuser back:

Since we have confidence to enter the Most Holy Place by the blood of Jesus…let us draw near to
God with a sincere heart and with the full assurance that faith brings, having our hearts sprinkled to
cleanse us from a guilty conscience and having our bodies washed with pure water.”

3. Isolation

Truths like these are harder to remember when we’re separated from godly family, friends and
mentors who can remind us of reality, encourage us, and pray with us. That’s why Satan will do
everything in his power to disconnect us from Christlike influences (especially Christ Himself) and
to ally us with ungodly ones. He’ll sow seeds of division, nurture roots of bitterness, cultivate
resentment, and reap unforgiveness to disengage us from the body of Christ. He loves nothing more
than to drive wedges into churches, marriages, ministries, mentorships, families and godly
friendships.

Human scammers, brainwashers and even cult leaders do this too, isolating their victims away from
those who could support them. Fight back by surrounding yourself with the body of Christ, making
“every effort to keep the unity of the Spirit through the bond of peace,” (Ephesians 4:3)--especially
when you don’t want to, don’t feel like it, or are ‘too busy.’

4. Foot-in-the-door

Whether isolating us from others, destroying godly relationships, or leading us into ever more
destructive sins, Satan probably won’t accomplish his goals overnight. Rather, he’s likely going to
try what manipulators call the “foot-in-the-door” technique. The idea is to start small, asking minor
requests of the victim, and then progressively build up to something more significant.

Like the romance scammer who gradually swindled $250,000 from one woman, Satan often asks us
for a series of little compromises rather than one colossal leap into sin. Fight back by setting clear
boundaries for yourself based on God’s word, before the temptations even start coming.
5. Gaslighting

Beware, now: Satan will try to make you second-guess those boundaries. One way he’ll do this is by
making you second-guess God’s word. This is exactly how he conned Eve in Eden, asking, “Did God
really say you must not eat from any tree in the garden?” (Genesis 3:1)

Planting doubt in a victim’s mind this way, leading her to question her perceptions of reality—what
she heard, what she believes, and whether she’s even sane—is the psychological manipulation tactic
of gaslighting. Satan tries gaslighting whenever he whispers questions like, Did God really say He
forgave you for your past? Does He really expect you to watch your words? Did He really say you
must not move in with your boyfriend, even though you’re both committed to a loving relationship?
Fight back by walking close to God, consistently feeding your spirit on His word, and staying
sensitive to His voice.

6. Striking When We Feel Weak

Resisting spiritual attack—or any manipulation—is harder when we’re personally compromised, and
Satan knows it. Human manipulators know it too, which is why brainwashing regimes often involve
bright lights, repetitive music, physical violence, verbal abuse, deprivation of food, medication or
sleep—anything to lower victims’ physical, mental or emotional defenses.

Satan is not above knocking us when we’re down. In fact, he even waited until 40 days of fasting had
weakened Jesus’s defenses before tempting Him. To fight back, we need to be extra alert to Satan’s
attacks when we’re tired, hungry or sick; when we’ve just received bad news, fought a battle, lost a
job or experienced a major transition; or when we’ve otherwise taken a physical, mental or emotional
blow.

These are the times when we must stay especially aware of our dependence on God. We also need to
guard against any lies—for instance, "You’re not valuable unless you’re exhaustingly
overscheduled"—which could lead us into a weakened state in the first place.

7. Striking When We Feel Strong

Sometimes, however, Satan plays the opposite game—attacking us when we feel strong. Both pagan
and righteous kings have learned this the hard way, as you can read about in Daniel 4 and 2
Chronicles 26. Even Solomon, who excelled in God-given wisdom above every other ruler and wrote
entire Bible chapters on the perils of seductresses, ultimately let his weakness for women entice him
into idolatry (1 Kings 11:1-4).

Often, human scammers target the seemingly strong too—the wealthy, the educated, and those who,
like Solomon, might never suspect themselves to be vulnerable. Fight back by recognizing that
everything you have comes from God, that you need Him in your strongest hour at least as much as
in your weakest hour, and that you’re never too faithful to fail.

8. Sowing Discontentment

The seemingly strong are also prime targets for another manipulation tactic—one which drives
consumer advertising. Advertisements sow discontentment in our minds by suggesting that no matter
how blessed we already are, there is something missing from our lives, a gap which only the
advertised product will fill. Satan loves nabbing us with this ploy too, telling us that we need wealth,
status, looks, relationships, extrabiblical religious teaching, or anything else besides Jesus to be
secure, saved and satisfied.
Beyond making us miserable, this consumeristic discontentment also advances Satan’s ambitions for
us to keep our eyes on ourselves rather than on God or others. Fight back with thankfulness, and by
remembering that our greatest purpose is not to please ourselves, but to love our neighbours and our
Lord, who alone gives life to the full (John 10:10).

9. Exploiting Human Emotion

Another ploy of Satan, the thrust of countless manipulative persuasion methods including most
propaganda, is to take advantage of our deepest human instincts. Satan exploits our drive for social
conformity, offering us sin as a means of gaining others’ acceptance. He hijacks our Divinely-
designed wiring for connection, luring us into relationships that sidestep God’s guidelines. And
above all, he feeds off our fears. Fight back by obediently, ongoingly committing yourself, emotions
and all, into the hands of your loving Father.