Following some kind of algorithm shuffle on Facebook, a few weeks back I started seeing videos and images that I would class as conspiracy theories. You can pick your poison—from 9/11 to faked moon landings, flat earth theory and Michelle Obama’s gender—I sampled many. To my wife’s ire I starting thinking about them, critically, particularly flat earth theory. While washing dishes I would suddenly shout, “How do they explain elongated shadows or the seasons?” In my defence the person, let’s call him Tim, sharing those videos insisted we practice radical skepticism towards, well, everything. So I’d like to think I was doing nothing more than accepting Tim’s call to critical inquiry, by needling the so-called proofs and arguments he was sharing.

Drawing on my newfound knowledge of the 20th century, after reading Svetlana Alexievich’s Secondhand Time, I wrote: “The craziest thing about flat earth claims is that its proponents would have us believe America and the USSR collaborated in the deceit—in the 1960s, during the Cold War.” In hindsight I should have taken aim at the claim that the moon landings were faked, rather than flat earth theory. But the successful Apollo missions did produce photographic evidence concerning the earth’s shape (pictured above), so it fits. Anyway, my observation about the profoundly illogical view most conspiracy theorists take of geopolitics and history kicked off a lively Facebook thread. Central to Tim’s arguments in favour of the flat earth was his insistence that Satan or the devil is a liar, a deceiver. That is the focus of this article.

It’s certainly true, as Tim pointed out, that the devil is a deceiver, “more crafty than any other beast of the field” (Genesis 3:1; 2 Corinthians 11:3). Alongside his other works of accusing (Zechariah 3:1-3) and tempting (Matthew 4:3; 1 Corinthians 7:5), Jesus described Satan as “the father of lies” (John 8:44). Clearly, the devil isn’t to be trusted. But does that mean governments or NASA aren’t to be trusted either? Christian conspiracy theorists think so. So it’s to that argument which we’ll now turn.

Satan’s Deceit Isn’t Tied to Leaders

Tim correctly points out that “deceit has been used against humanity since the beginning” (Genesis 3:4). Naturally. Theologically. However, he then added, “To think world governments aren’t answering to one leader is naive.” Really? Without claiming to have done an exhaustive reading of the biblical texts on Satan, none of those that I’m aware of conflate his deceit with world leaders or governments. Though Paul refers to him as “the ruler of this world” (2 Corinthians 4:4), the apostle doesn’t make any links between Satan and senate. Neither did Jesus, who called him “the ruler of this world” (John 12:31). Significantly, from this point on in John’s Gospel Jesus moves towards Golgotha, not some imperial palace or an earthy seat of power.

The leap from these biblical texts to the idea that worldly powers have sold their souls to the devil is unfounded, based on a hermeneutic of neuroticism. Politicians might very well be self-serving. But this doesn’t mean they’re in league with Satan.

Satan’s Temptations Involve Lying

In making his case, Tim draws on Christ’s temptation (Matthew 4:1ff). He writes, “In this passage, Satan claims authority over the kingdoms of the world and offers Jesus dominion over them.” This much is true. “The devil took him to a very high mountain and showed him all the kingdoms of the world and their glory. And he said to him, ‘All these I will give you, if you will fall down and worship me’” (Matthew 4:8-9; similarly Luke 4:5-7).

But weighing up this argument was struck by the irony that after establishing that Satan is deceitful and cunning, we want to treat his words as reliable and true. Do we really think the devil could deliver on his promise to Jesus? What are we going to do next, develop a guide for counselling the grieving using the words of Eliphaz, Bildad and Zophar? Like them, Satan’s words are dubious and misleading. This is precisely the point of a verse like Genesis 3:4, “You will not surely die.” Yes Eve, you will. The serpent is a liar.

Whether or not Satan could’ve given Jesus “all the kingdoms of the world and their glory” we cannot know. But going on what we know about the devil, it’s likely these were empty promise—like most temptations.

Satan’s Power Is Broken

Finally, if we can’t trust Satan’s own words, what about the Bible’s presentation of Satan. As Tim wrote, “I believe the Bible when it says Satan is the god of this world,” alluding to 2 Corinthians 4:4. To this we can add the language of him being “the prince of the power of the air” (Ephesians 2:2; cf. Ephesians 1:19-21), even “the ruler of this world” (John 12:31). Tim also cited Jesus’ point that, “if Satan casts out Satan, he is divided against himself. How then will his kingdom stand?” (Matthew 12:26). Do these verses prove a satanic collusion of world powers? Do they undo my previous point, where I argued that Satan couldn’t really have come through on his promises to Jesus? Let’s answer those questions in reverse order.

Appealing to some of the passages above, Tim then mentioned to their context. However, he pays scant attention to that himself. After Jesus implies that Satan isn’t divided against himself (Matthew 12:26), Jesus likens his Spirit-empowered casting out of demons to binding Satan (Matthew 12:28-29). With John 12:31 you only need to read the whole verse. “Now is the judgment of this world; now will the ruler of this world be cast out.” Few verses sum up this theology better than Colossians 2:15, “[God] disarmed the rulers and authorities and put them to open shame, by triumphing over them in [Christ].” When located within their context—and related the cosmic work of Christ at the cross—Tim’s verses appear to be little more than lazy proof texts.

With the above correction in place, one hardly needs to engage Tim’s claim that world powers are colluding with Satan to deceive the sheeple. So I’ll be brief. As he says, “If these leaders are not Bible-believing, born again…sanctified men of God, then they’re worshipping Satan or self.” To make this categorical point we have to reject out of hand passages like Romans 13:1-7—worthy of special mention from that passage is Paul’s description of governing authorities as “God’s servant for your good” (Romans 13:4). Peter exhorted Christians to “honour the emperor” (1 Peter 2:17). Even if these leaders aren’t Bible-believing men and women of God, the Bible calls them God’s servants and urges us to honour them. I’m not sure labelling them a satanic cabal quite fits God’s assessment.

Develop a Better Theology of the Devil

Even a cursory survey of the biblical texts on Satan, with only a little attention to their context, reveals that the devil is less involved in governments and global politics than conspiracy theorists insist. His deceit is not limited to the corridors of power. There is little to no biblical indication that the devil is especially at work among world leaders. In fact, I’m sure he’s perfectly happy with people spending all their free time consuming conspiratorial drivel on social media and reading about it in blog posts.