Tag Archives: crafty

Crafty refers to individuals who are clever at achieving one’s aims by indirect or deceitful methods. Synonyms for crafty include cunning, devious, guileful, sly and tricky. These words are synonymous with modern day politicians who seek to win at all costs. According to Moses, the craftiest of all the animals God created was the serpent. Apparently, animals could speak in the earliest days as the Tower Babel suggests that earth’s inhabitants initially spoke the same language, Genesis 11:1-3.

Now the serpent was more subtle and crafty than any living creature of the field which the Lord God had made. And he [Satan] said to the woman, Can it really be that God has said, You shall not eat from every tree of the garden? – Genesis 3:1

Meanwhile, other scholars suggest that this serpent was able to speak due to Lucifer entering its body. Instead of demons possessing a human being, this serpent became possessed by the Devil. Whatever the reason, the serpent convinced Eve that God was holding her back. Rather than embrace the one boundary God set in place for Adam and Eve to avoid in the Garden of Eden, the serpent twisted this around to make Adam and Eve to want to become like God knowing good and evil.

And one of the throng replied to Him, Teacher, I brought my son to You, for he has a dumb spirit. ¹⁸ And wherever it lays hold of him [so as to make him its own], it dashes him down and convulses him, and he foams [at the mouth] and grinds his teeth, and he [^[i]falls into a motionless stupor and] is wasting away. And I asked Your disciples to drive it out, and they were not able [to do it]. ¹⁹ And He answered them, O unbelieving generation [without any faith]! How long ^[j]shall I [have to do] with you? How long am I to bear with you? Bring him to Me. ²⁰ So they brought [the boy] to Him, and when the spirit saw Him, at once it completely convulsed the boy, and he fell to the ground and kept rolling about, foaming [at the mouth], Mark 9:17-20.

One of the missionary helpers of the apostle Paul wanted to know more on this topic. The passage above highlight how demonic forces can influence how human beings act and behave. While society often labels certain people as bad apples or crazy, some modern-day individuals are actually under the control of demonic powers. Although Moses writes about the craftiest animal of all, the apostle Paul points to the angelic powers, Ephesians 2:2, and supernatural forces that continue this legacy of deception, Ephesians 6:10-12.

by Jay Mankus