The Bible verse of Paul that Satan's thoughts are not unknown to us, supports the idea that we can understand Satan sufficiently to be wise against his wiles. People have been overly occupied with him, or they are ignorant of his ruses , even to the denial of his existence. If he can get people to ignore him, then they do not see him coming. But if he occupies people in any way, from fanatic exorcism to elaborate studies of the occult, then he debilitates them and thwarts their spiritual growth.

Satan means 'adversary' or 'accuser' and in the NT it is written that he accuses the brethren day and night. And he does that by pointing out true faults in us. And then the Lord Jesus Christ reminds him that He has paid for our sins with His blood. He plays a double role. On the one hand he attacks us like a roaring lion, or stalks us like a hidden serpent. All to seduce us. And on the other hand he accuses us in heavenly places. Be vigilant and pray, that you do not come into temptation. For the spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak.

Another name he carries, devil (from 'diabolos'), means 'confuser', he that throws everything into a mingled mess. Other than that he is called the serpent (based on Genesis 3), the great dragon (based on the Leviathan in the book of Job) and it is said that he can transform himself as an angel of light to deceive and to seduce. And the angels that follow him are called fallen angels, or demons.

All de devil wants, is to drag as many people as possible with him into hell, even though eventually that will not at all be of advantage to him. The church father Augustine said that the devil and his angels are set in their will. We can see this in the fact that Satan entered Judas to have Jesus killed literally. Satan could not help himself, for he knew the prophecies that even though he would crush the heel of Messiah, Messiah would crush his head.

Christ, when rebuking the devil, said that Satan thinks on the things of man (kind) and not on those of God. The things of fallen man is to play God in whatever way we can find and deep in our heart, according to a Psalm, we fool ourselves with the idea that there will be no end to our game and that man will last forever; even though we know in our minds that one time our day will come and that the universe probably will not last for ever either.

Christ, in John 8, calls the devil the murderer of man (literally 'human killer') and liar from the beginning and the father of him. And the Bible tells us about this in Genesis 3. And is he not spiritually the father of the false prophet (the second beast in Revelation 13), just like he entered Judas to betray the Lord!

After the analogy of mathematics God might be called an independent and absolutely closed given. Satan, however, remains dependent on God and like any creature, fallen or not, cannot exist outside of the power of the great Creator. Christ stated that if the devil is divided against himself, he cannot remain (until his being judged, of course), just like any kingdom is doomed to fail, if it is inconsistent in its core. Putting these things together, we must conclude that, in a way, Satan and his kingdom of darkness is also a closed system. But not an absolute one. Therefore it can be destroyed. Christ Jesus conquered Satan by voluntarily submitting to death. Satan wielded power over death, but not anymore. A good comparison is to state that Satan has been convicted de jure , and that one day he will be condemned de facto.

The Bible implies that, in order to be able to resist the devil to such a degree that he will flee from you, we first must submit to the Lord. Submit to the Lord and resist the devil and he will flee from you. We can only conquer the devil, if we obey the Lord, submitting to His will.

The Bible foretold that the Lord will soon crush Satan under OUR feet. Satan's destruction comes in stages. His fall and rebellion, his being thrown upon the earth like a flash of lightning, and so on. And in the end he will be bound for a thousand years in the bottomless pit, to be released for a short time to test the nations and to be thrown into the lake of fire eventually.