Satan the Devil Is Making Headlines
The devil is in the news.
“If you were Satan, who would you attack in this day and age? There is no one else to go after other than the United States,” said presidential candidate Rick Santorum in 2008, in a recently publicized speech that has created an uproar.
“The father of lies has his sights on what you would think the father of lies, Satan, would have his sights on: a good, decent, powerful, influential country—the United States of America,” Mr. Santorum told students at a Catholic university in Florida. He warned that the devil has infiltrated America’s academia, its politics and even its religion.
In terms of helping his reputation as a candidate, he might as well have said that he sacrifices oxen, or wants to punish thieves by chopping off their hands.
The New York Times’ Maureen Dowd compared Santorum to a Muslim extremist. “Mullah Rick,” she called him. In the Washington Post, Jennifer Rubin called him “not a conservative but a reactionary, seeking to obliterate the national consensus on a range of issues.” Even right-wing voices piled on. One prominent conservative writer called Santorum’s comments “ill-advised, horribly misguided,” “fringe,” “zany,” “nonsense,” and said they paint Santorum as a “religious nut.”
Wow. It has been said that the devil’s canniest strategy is to convince us that he doesn’t exist. It seems that—among media talking heads, at least—he’s playing his cards quite well.
Supposedly, though, most Americans believe in the devil. A 2007 Gallup poll put the figure at 7 in 10. A Harris survey in 2009 found slightly less, but still more than 6 out of 10. So that belief of itself doesn’t seem particularly controversial.
But just what is the devil? That is where major differences of opinion emerge. Confusion reigns. The devil is a mystery, even to religious people.
Mr. Santorum’s belief in a living being, with power, and malicious intent—a being that can actually influence people and subvert institutions or weaken nations—is definitely a minority view.
Among Americans who consider themselves Christian, beliefs about Satan are fuzzy. A 2009 Barna survey showed that 59 percent strongly or somewhat agreed that Satan “is not a living being but is a symbol of evil.” An additional 9 percent only “disagree somewhat” with that statement, and 8 percent more weren’t sure what they believe about Satan.
It’s a strong measure of how little the Bible informs most Christianity today. Because the Bible is clear about the subject. And Satan the devil is not a symbol.
Where do you suppose evil comes from? It saturates our world today, as it has for all of human history. For those who believe in the inherent goodness of the human heart, it’s a little difficult to explain how people can be so hateful, violent and barbaric toward fellow human beings.
But the Bible reveals the existence of a very real but invisible spirit world—like another dimension that exists alongside the material world—not directly discernible with the five senses. The spirit realm actually exerts influence on human minds, both good and evil.
The Apostle Paul said that human beings have been walking “according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air [speaking of Satan the devil], the spirit that now worketh in the children of disobedience” (Ephesians 2:2).
How well can you discern that spirit at work in our world? In the way that children treat their parents, and parents treat their children? In the way that honorable people are ignored or mocked, and disgraceful behavior is hyped? In the foul entertainment that pollutes minds and destroys families? In the greed and corruption that drives business and politics? In the hatreds and divisions increasingly carving up the populace of this once great United States?
Most people are simply unaware that there is, in fact, a malicious spirit power broadcasting hostile attitudes into their minds!
The Apostle Peter spoke of him as “your adversary the devil,” who prowls around like a lion looking for people to destroy spiritually (1 Peter 5:8).
Jesus Christ—the one whom Christians profess to be following—certainly believed in Satan. While in the flesh as a man, He personally faced the devil down, warding off his temptations (Matthew 4). He was the one who first called Satan “the father of lies,” as well as “a murderer from the beginning” (John 8:44).
Jesus was clear: We must beware this destructive being. Jesus warned one disciple that Satan was coming after him personally to destroy him (Luke 22:31). When teaching His disciples how to pray, He taught them to include the request, “Deliver us from the evil one”—the devil (Matthew 6:13; New King James and most translations); and He personally prayed for their protection from him (John 17:15).
How vulnerable do you suppose you are if not only are you failing to pray this prayer, but you aren’t even aware of this monster’s actions? Answer: Paul exhorts that Satan will “get an advantage of us” if we are “ignorant of his devices” (2 Corinthians 2:11).
How exposed is a country whose leaders, shepherds and critics scoff at even the suggestion of his existence? Answer: The Prophet Isaiah said this great fallen archangel “didst weaken the nations!” (Isaiah 14:12). Not just the United States, but “the nations.”
The Apostle John, in fact, described him as “that old serpent, called the Devil, and Satan, which deceiveththe whole world” (Revelation 12:9).
Jesus Himself called Satan “the prince of this world” (e.g. John 12:31). Paul said he “hath blinded the minds of them which believe not,” and called him “the god of this world” (2 Corinthians 4:4).
Rick Santorum suggested that the devil has insinuated his way into America’s schools, its politics, its churches. Are people really so convinced of the incorruptibility of these institutions that this is such an outrageous charge? The bad fruits of these organizations prove otherwise.
The fact that such a statement gets a politician tarred as a zany extremist is, in reality, evidence of its truth. The prince of this world, the god of this evil world, has deceived the whole world. And among America’s arrogant illuminati, he has done a masterful job of turning himself into a punch line—so he can carry on his work undetected.
You need to know more about “your adversary the devil.” Can you prove he is real? How pervasive is his influence? Did God create a devil? To receive satisfying, thorough scriptural answers to these fundamental questions, watch Trumpet editor in chief Gerald Flurry’s television program “Satan Is a Mystery,” and read Chapter Two, “Mystery of Angels and Evil Spirits,” of Herbert W. Armstrong’s book Mystery of the Ages.
