Accusation 01: Why the devil accuses

The devil is called the accuser of the brethren.  That sums him up perfectly, always accusing.  And if he can’t do it directly, he will inspire other people to accuse you.  I have been accused with the best of them, but recently I have been asking this question: why does the devil accuse?  Why do that?  What is the point?

The point is that accusation paralyses the kingdom.  It makes ministers give up, lay down, quit, fall apart, lose focus and play into the accuser’s hands.  The more you listen to the accuser, the more control he can exert in your life.  All of us are vulnerable to guilt and fear, and accusations take both those emotions and use them to stop us fulfilling our destiny!

The devil accuses basically because it works.  But it doesn’t have to work – we can overcome the accuser.  We can walk above accusation, but to do that we have to grasp how it works:

1. Accusations destroy healthy relationships
   1. An accusation is like poison to a good relationship.  Great healthy divine relationships can be destroyed by accusations.  Things will never be the same if an accusation is embraced by someone.
   2. If you accuse someone in your church of fancying another person in the church, I guarantee their relationship will never be the same again.  That is the power of accusation!
   3. Everything that is pure is looked at in the light of the accusation and it looks muddy and murky.
2. The power of an accusation is that it is the polar opposite of God’s plan and view
   1. Satan’s plan is to get someone to accuse you of the opposite of what you are.  Some of the most generous, large-hearted people I know are accused regularly of being money obsessed.  People who would never steal are accused of being thieves.  You would think that if you accuse someone of something they would never do – the polar opposite of their character – it wouldn’t work, but it does, it really does.
   2. Moses was accused of being proud and he was the most humble man on the planet.
   3. Jesus was accused of being the destroyer of God’s house!  Come on now!
3. Satan’s plan is to get those closest to you to accuse you
   1. If you are a pastor, satan would rather a church goer to your church would accuse you than someone who doesn’t go.
   2. He would rather have a deacon or elder accuse you than a church goer
   3. He would rather have an associate accuse you than a deacon or elder.
   4. He would rather have your wife accuse you than an associate.
   5. Jesus was accused by Judas, his close friend.
   6. Be aware, if you are placed in a position of honour by someone, satan’s plan is to try and con you into being their accuser and his mouthpiece on the planet
4. Accusations don’t kill your ministry – your reaction to them might!
   1. If you just keep doing what God told you to do, and are Spirit-led not accuser led then you will be fine, no matter what they say about you!
   2. If you listen to the accusers and it intimidates you or it gets under your skin and you react like Moses and smash the rock you should be talking to, then you will fail to enter your promised land!
5. Accusers are mad!
   1. Luke 6 says that the Pharisees watch Jesus to find a time to accuse him because they were filled with madness (read verses 7 through to 11).
   2. Accusers get so full of hatred and rage and fear that they go mental.  Their behaviour is literally that of a crazy person.
   3. You have to keep your heart pure – when you are accusing people, the devil is absolutely using you to rip people apart and you will be subject to the rage and hate eventually.   To the point of madness!
   4. Jesus’ accusers ended up coming at him with swords and staffs and nailed him to a cross.  That is not normal behaviour for priests.  Accusing drove them to it!
6. Your accuser loves religion and quotes that have nothing to do with the Word of God
   1. They will accuse you because a certain psychologist says you are cult-like or a certain scholar claims you are wrong.  They won’t use the Bible because it is the truth!
   2.  There are women accusing their husbands and all men quoting feminists and secular worldly scholars.  All their statements sound reasonable but are not Biblical.
   3. Do not let the accuser in, even if he dresses up as respectable scholarly wisdom!
7. When your accuser is shown to be wrong, it won’t stop him.  He will just make up more stuff!
   1. The process is like this: the accuser makes a false accusation, it obviously is false, people see it to be false, and the accuser then gets desperate and makes even more bizarre accusations
   2. When they accuse Jesus of hating the temple, there is no proof, so the soldiers blindfold him and punch him in the face telling him to prophecy who hit him.  That’s how desperate they were to prove he was a false prophet!
   3. Your accusers will say some crazy things!
8. Anyone who ties themselves to you inherits your accusers too
   1. Accusations will very soon cover those who are associated to you!
   2. If you don’t want to be accused of what a pastor is accused of, don’t become his associate!
   3. Don’t expect to join the team and be the guy who isn’t accused!  It won’t happen.  You are not greater than Jesus!
   4. The more the accusations come to you, the closer you are to the leader.  If you are accused of destroying the temple, you are close to Christ indeed!
   5. Peter was accused of being Christ’s guy!  He couldn’t handle it, sometimes people can’t handle being accused of being in your gang.  Perhaps you wouldn’t last a day being accused the way your pastor is.  Have a little respect – you don’t know what someone is going through to get the Word to you.
9. Some accusations can change your whole life direction if you let them
   1. There are some accusations which push your buttons.  Satan will try and find out what those buttons are and press them!
   2. Accusations can make the best of leaders change course if they are not careful.
   3. I have seen pastors stop receiving funds and challenging their congregation to give because they are scared of being accused of loving money.  I have seen pastors stop ministering life to certain people because of accusations of favouritism or even adultery.
10. Accusation is a spiritual attack – it’s not about what you are being accused of, it’s to stop you doing God’s will!
    1. You get accused and you change behaviour, guess what – new accusations will come.
    2. People want to make you feel shame.  The devil is behind that.  Don’t listen and let it drive you, be Spirit-led.
    3. Satan wants to stop you advancing the kingdom!
    4. Nothing you do will change the accuser, they are the ones with the problem, not you.  So don’t change for an accuser.

Accusations are there because the devil wants to degrade you.  He wants to disgrace you.  He wants you to miss the mark and drive you to hating the accusers.