223. Demonic strategy
223. DEMONIC STRATEGY
Why do the Devil’s temptations work so well? You’d think we would be smarter than to fall for his advertisements. We know where they come from and where they lead to. We know, from repeated and uniform experience, that succumbing to sin always produces misery in the end, and that choosing to obey God’s will always produces joy. We know that by faith, by reason, and by experience. So why are we so incredibly stupid? Why is the Devil so successful in deceiving us into looking at the fake fat worm on his fishing hook instead of the hook? He must have many clever plays in his playbook.
The devil does not straight away tempt the spiritual man to grave sins, but he begins with lighter sins, so as gradually to lead him to those of greater magnitude. . . .
Thus too did the devil set about the temptation of the first man. For at first he enticed his mind to consent to the eating of the forbidden fruit, saying (Gen 3:1): Why hath God commanded you that you should not eat of every tree of paradise? Secondly he tempted him to vainglory by saying: Your eyes shall be opened. Thirdly, he led the temptation to the extreme height of pride, saying: You shall be as gods, knowing good and evil. This same order did he observe in tempting Christ. For at first he tempted Him to that which all men desire, however spiritual they may be—namely, the support of the corporeal nature by food. Secondly, he advanced to . . . vainglory. Thirdly, he led the temptation on to . . . holding God in contempt. . . . (Note this order in the three temptations in Mt 4:1-11.)
And Christ resisted these temptations by quoting the authority of the Law, not by enforcing His power, so as to give more honor to His human nature . . . since the foe of the human race was vanquished not as by God but as by man, as Pope Leo says (III,41,4).
St. Thomas’ first paragraph identifies one of the Devil’s most successful temptation principles as the “frog in the pot” principle: turn up the water temperature so gradually that the frog doesn’t notice that he’s being boiled. Evil spirits can do this because, being spirits, they look at things in our time from a point of view outside our time, so that they do not have the weakness of impatience as we do. They are dispassionate.
The distinction between mortal and venial sin is necessary but dangerous, because it tempts us to discount the importance of venial sins. Their chief power is their ability to gradually habituate us to the point of mortal sin, which is the greatest danger there is, the only danger there is, ultimately.
St. Thomas’ second paragraph identifies another principle demons use in spiritual warfare: multiple attacks, from many directions at once, or with many different weapons at once. Adam in Eden was tempted by mental doubt, by curiosity, by greed, by vainglory, and by pride. Thus the mind, the will, the imagination, and the passions are all attacked.
Our greatest defensive weapon against temptation is Christ, the perfect Word of God in flesh, and His example in quoting the perfect Word of God in print, as St. Thomas notes in his last paragraph. By not using the divine force that He could have used against His temptations (He could have called down “twelve legions of angels”—Mt 26:53), He gave us an example that we could follow. For we do not have the power to call down angels at our will (though God does send them, at His will), but we do have the power to call out in faith to a far greater power, God Himself, Who became man and was tempted like us so that He could be in our spiritual warfare, not just above it. Of course we should use all our powers, of mind and will and imagination, but not trust in them, for that is trusting in ourselves. Our most powerful weapon against temptation is not our own power, whether of mind or will or imagination, but our faith—not because of its subject (us) but because of its object (Christ). And that is well within the power of our human nature. In fact, often the weaker we are, if we are humble and honest enough to admit it, the stronger our faith is, because we know it has to be, we know we are hopeless by ourselves.