"The greatest lie the devil ever told is that he did not exist." We have all heard the quote, and I agree with it completely. There is evil in the heart of men, ever since the fall of Adam and Eve, people have been at war with themselves, hellbent on destroying each other. The battle for our souls will rage on until the end of time. (Which, and you can call me crazy if you like, is going to happen sooner than later...)
In my experience the Devil is seen two ways in this day and age; the first is that he is a fairy tale, a story made up to scare us into behaving, and that hell is his imaginary home cooked up, again to scare us into worshiping a God that may or may not exist. I have often heard people say they can't wait to go to hell, because that is where the party is going to be. It blows my mind. The second is that the Devil is the anti-God, just as powerful, the destroyer to the creator. The Ying to God's Yang. Implying that there is a little evil in God and a little good in the Devil.
Disclaimer: what follows are my beliefs on the subject. You are free to believe what ever you would like.
I have talked about this with pastors that believe both the former and the latter, I have talked to atheists' and agnostics alike, and the prevailing trend is that we as humans are inherently good. I am also asked constantly if God is so good, how could he ever send any one to hell. The argument being that if you are a good person you will granted access into heaven... Grace is free to all.
I would make the opposite argument. We as humans are inherently bad. We are born wicked. I know, how can I say babies are wicked? They are so innocent, and to be clear Christ did say that the Kingdom of Heaven belongs to the little children, and when David lost his child in the Old Testament, he stopped fasting and said the child was dead, he, David, would go to him, implying the child had gone to heaven, So babies are in the clear, but it does not take us long to grow into our wickedness. If you have ever been around a five year old, you know. They are constantly pushing the limits, learning how to lie, be manipulative, and occasionally cruel. That is why as parents we are charged with raising them right. I am not saying that all five year olds are evil, though I have met a few that toe the line...
I am also not saying that we as humans do not have a capacity for good, History is full of great examples of selfless, loving people i.e.: Mother Theresa, Gondi, Abraham Lincoln (the President, not the vampire hunter), Albert Einstein, Martin Luther King Jr.... the list goes on. These people are sadly in the minority, To the tell the truth I struggled to come up with that list, it is easier for me to see evil in the world , because lets face it, we live in an evil world.
I know some will be turned off by this thought, but just watch the news for five minutes. Today we face the threat of terrorism everyday, the fact that that word even exist proves my point, and it is worldwide. ISIS makes 3 million dollars a day on oil and is actively recruiting, and they are not recruiting with love, they are selling hate, and their numbers grow everyday.
Over in Hong Kong, the leaders of the country told protesters that they would use any means necessary to make them disperse, They didn't come right out and say they would start shooting into the crowd, but then again they didn't really have to.
If you look at the middle east, specifically Israel and Palestine, they have been killing each other for generations, literally thousands of years. Over in Russia Vladimir Putin is grabbing land, and no one is doing anything to stop him. Not to far away both Iran and North Korea are developing Nuclear Weapons, I personally don't think they are planning on using them for self defense.
It is not just recent events either, look at the history of the world: Cold war, Vietnam War, World War I, World War II, The WHOLE world was literally at war... at once... TWICE. Its not just war though, there is slavery of all kinds, rape, murder, theft, lying, cheating and these things happen everyday all around us. We barely bat an eye.
So where does all this evil come from? Some say God, except God is incapable of evil, Does he allow evil, yes. Why does he allow evil? Because we are not robots, we have free will... and here is the kicker... we chose it. Christ was tempted in the desert for 40 days, Satan was unsuccessful because Christ was perfect and could not be tempted. I however am tempted everyday, and I fail to be perfect everyday. I also know that I am a work in progress, and that if I ask for it, I will be forgiven.
So again where does the evil come from? I chose to believe the devil. Do I put him on the same level as God? The Devil can't even hold a candle to God. The Devil is and was a created being, originally an angle, the most beautiful angel of all, but angels where not given free will like humans and that made Lucifer mad, so he tried to over throw his creator, and talked a third of the armies of heaven into helping him, as punishment God cast them out of heaven, they fell, never to return, and since that time there has been a battle for the souls that inhabit this planet.
Some of you are probably thinking I am a crack pot at this point, and you know what, I am ok with that, Satan is more of a behind-the-scenes kind of guy, he doesn't like it when he is pointed out. We as a culture have turned him into a cartoon, or something scary to put in movies. We celebrate him on Halloween, We have become altogether numb to him, and I am sure he loves it, because if there were no consequences for our actions (Hell) then Grace becomes a nice word. We would not need to be redeemed. We would not need to fall to our knees and repent, because there would be no sin.... and that is the lie that we have been sold, and whats worse we have bought it.
So do I believe that the "Dark Prince" has the power to make me do bad things? Am I just using him as a patsy so I can do whatever I want and just blame it on him? No, because again I get to choose, but being aware of him helps inform my choices. I love the light but that does not mean that I should forget about the dark, because that is how it creeps in, it starts as a shadow, and before you know it you are engulfed by something so dark you are convinced it is light.
In closing, do I think that the Devil exists, I most certainly do, Do I think that he has any kind of power over me? None at all, he only has the power I give him. Will he win some battles? Yes, he most certainly will, but I am more worried about the war, and I am pretty sure I am on the winning side.
-Micah
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