My son is one of the most animated people I know. We love Landon’s enthusiasm and zest for life. Granted, there were times when he was younger when we considered slipping a sedative in his Gatorade to mellow him, but normally we are blessed by how funny and entertaining he is. Since he was very little, his mother, sister and I have had countless occasions when we have had to ask him to keep his voice down. Simply put, Landon is loud. Being an extrovert, he naturally speaks at a level that is far louder than is appropriate in public settings like restaurants. He is the Doctor of Decibels, the Viceroy of Volume, the Senator of Soundwaves…you get the picture. Some of you who are reading this know me well, and you are saying, “Gee, Jeff, where do you think Landon got that high volume vocal output from?” We all know it was not Amy. So, the bottom line is that my son is, like his father, a merchant of high volume communication. By the way, Landon is in good company. In the back of your bible, there appears another loud voice that you really need to listen to.

“I heard a loud voice in heaven, saying, “Now the salvation and the power and the kingdom of our God and the authority of his Christ have come, for the accuser of our brothers has been thrown down, who accuses them day and night before our God.” – Revelation 12:10

Though not specifically identified, this voice is likely that of one of God’s mighty angels who thunders some important news across the expanse of Heaven. While I would love to zero-in on his statements concerning the power and kingdom of God being manifested, I have a different component of this heavenly herald’s words that catch my attention. He proclaims the status of the devil, whom he refers to as “the accuser of our brothers”. This is such an important key in the Kingdom that far too many Christians fail to apply to their own lives. The strategy of Satan employs a commitment to the activity of 24/7 accusation.

Our enemy accuses us to God.

He accuses God to us.

He accuses us to us.

I am not overstating this reality: the plan of Satan is wear us down through the practice of non-stop accusation.

Satan is a liar and always has been. He is actually the spawner of all lies (John 8:44). His tactic in the Garden of Eden was to deceive Eve. He accomplished this by accusing God to her. In a different Old Testament scene, we see Satan in the role of an accusing prosecutor, bringing charges against Joshua the High Priest before the judgment seat of God (Zechariah 3:1-5). When most of us think of the devil, we do not often consider that his most effective, and therefore most frequently employed weapon, is accusation. He is a marketer of deceit. Satan knows that, if he can saddle your mind with misinformation, he can rule your life. He loves to tell us that we are not enough. He seeks to spray a lingering mist of doubt and fear over our thought-life. He tries to drop accusatory anchors into our emotions, so we live with the feeling of despair and hopelessness.  He knows that God is a kind, glorious, loving compassionate Being. He loathes that! So, what does our enemy do? He works through any resource he can harness to portray God to us as an unyielding, impossible-to-please, tyrannical, unhinged, heartless, loveless, indifferent, furious, detached deity. He knows that his mission is ruined should the Christian ever come to lastingly rest in the knowledge of the goodness of Father God. Or, if he allows you to conclude in your mind that God is actually good, he will then work to saddle you with accusation that you are far too bad to ever experience any of that goodness from God.

Satan and his demonic army incessantly, unapologetically lie to us. Non-stop. Rapid-fire. Precisely aimed at the areas where we are most weak. Satan relentlessly traffics in an unbridled effort to distort our views of God and ourselves.

So, what do we do?

Well, I’ll tell you what I do.

When I sense an uptick in the accusing ministry of Satan and his demons coming against me, I simply say, “Satan, you and your demons have been exposed. You overplayed your hand with me again. You are a damned society of liars. Heaven’s voice is louder in my soul than your accusations are in my ears. I refuse to listen to liars so all of you can GO TO HELL!”

You may not like the way that last statement reads. Well, you go on and be polite with devil. I’ll keep on relegating him and his demons to the place that my Father has prepared for them for all eternity (Matthew 25:41). I stand on good theological ground when I dismiss the accusing enemy of my soul and remind him that his destiny is the Hell, or more specifically, the lake of fire. As a matter of fact, in the same chapter I quoted above regarding the loud voice in Heaven, we find this little nugget of joy concerning Satan: “…he is filled with fury, because he knows that his time is short.”

The loud voice in Heaven declares that the accuser of the Christian has been cast down. The same voice declares that Satan’s time is short. Our enemy is desperate! He is frenzied! He is grasping and gasping in his final hours of his ministry of deception and accusation.

You do not have to listen him. I will strengthen that, you must not listen to him. Like my son’s volume in restaurants when he was younger, there will also be the loudest voice in the room of your mind. Which is it – the lying enemy or the voice of the King who gave Himself for you? They are both speaking to you. You and I get to decide which one will wear the title of the loudest voice in our lives.

As for me, I do not listen to dethroned, desperate lying loudmouths.

In this one specific case, I tell the liar that he can go to hell where he belongs.

I recommend that you begin to do the same.