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The devil may soon knock at your door. He might be dressed in a red suit with horns on his head and stand anywhere from two to five feet tall. When you open the door, he’ll yell, “Trick or treat!”

Do you believe there is a real Devil? The late Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia made headlines when he stated in an interview that he believed there is a Devil. Scalia said most of mankind for all of history believed there is a Devil.

Charles Finney warned, “If you don’t believe in the devil’s existence, just try resisting him for awhile.” The Bible describes the devil as a deceiver and father of lies. He’s sometimes called Lucifer or Satan. Devil comes from the Greek word for accuser. The last four letters of the name spell exactly what he is – evil.

“The devil made me do it!” Comedian Flip Wilson used to say on his 70’s television show. He wasn’t the first person to say it. Flip Wilson put a modern-day spin on what Eve said in the Garden of Eden. When God asked her why she’d disobeyed His command, she answered, “The serpent deceived me and I ate” (Genesis 3:13).

Eating forbidden fruit gets us into many jams, according to a church sign I once saw. Each of us has a choice between good and evil. We must take responsibility for our own actions. Someone once said, “To avoid being tempted by forbidden fruit, stay away from the Devil’s orchard.”

The devil is a coward. James 4:7 reads, “Therefore submit to God. Resist the devil and he will flee from you.” The devil cannot penetrate Godly armor. “Be strong in the Lord and in the power of His might. Put on the whole armor of God that you may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil,” the Apostle Paul declares in Ephesians 6:10-11.

Our Enemy cannot tell the truth. “When he speaks a lie, he speaks from his own resources, for he is a liar and the father of it” (John 8:44). The evil one can’t be up to anything good. So “be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil walks about like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour” (1 Peter 5:8).

When Satan tempted Jesus in the wilderness, Jesus answered him with “It is written” and quoted the Word of God. Then the devil left Him (read Matthew 4). The devil cannot stand to hear you speak God’s Word.

The Wicked One can’t take you anywhere that God cannot go. “Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil; For You are with me; Your rod and Your staff, they comfort me” (Psalm 23:4).

By His death on the Cross, Jesus defeated Satan once and for all. So Satan can’t defeat us because “in all these things we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us” (Romans 8:37). Remember our Enemy cannot win. “Thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ” (1 Corinthians 15:57).

— Jan White has compiled a collection of her columns in her book, “Everyday Faith for Daily Life.”