Satan is a magnificent and mighty being who possesses innate powers far beyond those of any fleshly creation. As far as is known he lives forever. Despite having far greater natural powers than a man satan can do nothing against any of God's children that God does not permit. God oversees preparation for His Kingdom and the devil is in reality a dupe in God's hands to that end. God puts as it were a protective wall around His people commanding satan this far and no farther. Like everybody else satan has only the power God created in him and the latitude to use it only as He permits and no more. The power given to him is meted out for what God wants him to accomplish for His purposes. Seeing all of the horrible things happening on earth one may suppose that his power is unlimited but it most assuredly is not. History shows that the primary enemies of the church arise from humans influenced by satan and his demons and history continually repeats itself. The clearest examples of where these enemies lie are shown in the lives and ministries of Jesus Christ and the apostles. Civil governments and false churches are always the true church's most dangerous adversaries. Jesus informs that a powerful Roman governor who had authority over life and death derived his authority from God. The authority would not be his if God had not given it to him directly. God has the power to move all history in the direction He wishes it to go. His desire will always be done. In the final analysis all civil magistrates from the emperor on down to the lower authorities and religious authorities as well owe to God their appointments and rights to govern. Nobody can successfully stand in His way of completing that purpose.

Satan's power emerges as a central concern in understanding the spiritual conflict Christians face, though it must be seen within the context of a struggle already weighted in believers' favor. Despite this favorable position, Satan retains genuine authority: when he tempted Jesus, he showed Him all the kingdoms of the world and offered them, demonstrating that his power extends over all the nations of the earth. Jesus Himself called him "the ruler of this world," and Paul identifies him as "the prince of the power of the air." This authority is not merely positional but functional—Satan actively influences human minds, often without people being aware they are being manipulated toward evil. The mechanism of this influence connects to the nature of man himself. God created mankind "very good" but incomplete, giving humans a non-material spirit that imparts intellectual capacity but requires the brain and body to function; this spirit does not itself possess life, since life resides in the blood. Crucially, this human spirit can be communicated with by other spirits—either God's Spirit or the spirit of this world—without the person's conscious awareness, as demonstrated when God stirred the spirit of Cyrus, or when a lying spirit was permitted by God to persuade Ahab's prophets. This capacity for spiritual communication explains why human history is filled with violence, bitterness, envy, and lust: these traits did not originate from God, who pronounced creation "very good," nor from man as originally made, but from Satan, who communicates them into human minds. The illustration of "the prince of the power of the air" clarifies how this works: just as radio and television signals fill a room yet remain undetected unless one is tuned to the right frequency, Satan continually broadcasts his spirit and attitude toward those who remain tuned into him. This broadcast does not always take the form of direct thoughts but often manifests as an emanating attitude, comparable to how one person's mood can silently alter another's without a word spoken. Because Satan is "the father of lies," incapable of truth just as God is incapable of falsehood, his broadcast is inherently deceptive, hiding his ultimate aims of confusion, division, and eventually warfare. The origin of this destructive pattern traces back to Satan's own self-deception: believing he was not treated as he deserved by God, he embraced vanity and resolved to exalt himself above God's throne. This same trajectory—hurt feelings leading to self-justification, then to conflict—recurs in human relationships, families, and nations, revealing Satan's power not as an irresistible force but as a persuasive influence that exploits human self-centeredness. Believers, having received God's Spirit, gain the sensitivity and liberty to recognize and "tune out" this signal, though doing so requires deliberate effort of will and faith.