The Power and Authority of Satan

We must never minimize the power and authority of Satan over the lives, beliefs, actions, words, and destiny of the lost. The Lord never does. People are Satan’s captives. He is the prince and god of this world, the “prince of the power of the air, the spirit that now worketh in the children of disobedience” (Eph. 2:2). He holds people captive with lies and with lusts. This world is his lair. He is both a serpent and a roaring lion, and he can appear as an angel of light. He is the dragon, a murderer from the beginning, and the father of lies; and the human race lies in his lap. That is the way the Lord sees us—a much different view than we have of ourselves. We need to be turned from “the power of Satan” to God.

John Phillips, Exploring Acts: An Expository Commentary, The John Phillips Commentary Series (Kregel Publications; WORDsearch Corp., 2009), Ac 26:18.