What Do You Think About the Devil?

Our culture is steeped in a strange and obsessive love affair with the devil.

In my lifetime, I have been able to witness a shift from the majority of politicians, cultural icons and media influencers professing some belief in or adherence to a form of cultural Christianity or at least theistic worldview close enough to sound Christian to the rise of new-atheism led by the so-called “4-horsemen” Richard Dawkins, Sam Harris, Christopher Hitchens and Daniel Dennet. For a while, many were swayed by these intellectual attacks against religion in general and Christianity specifically, but over time, there began to be a growing unease within the atheist community as they were left without satisfying or compelling answers for concepts dealing with ethics and morality as well as scientific rebuttals like the apparent fine tuning of the universe. While atheism is by no means a relic of the past, there has been a growing number of people who have come to the conclusion that there must be something else beyond the natural world that we can see, observe, measure and test but for various reasons are still opposed to falling in line with any one religious viewpoint or dogmatic system. Still deeper into this group, there is an increasing subset who are genuinely drawn to that which is dark, sinister, malicious or even rebellious by nature. It is this group who have brought the philosophical concept, the supernatural entity and, at times, even the personal being known as Satan or the devil to the mainstream. So, what does this mean for us? What is our role in a culture which celebrates the embodiment of evil? What is our relationship to this figure known as Satan?

Before anything else, we have to let you know that we know we will not be able to answer every question and ground every position in our regular weekly videos, so make sure that you are subscribed to our channel so that you are notified when our Tuesday Talks podcasts drop, where we will be able to get a lot more in-depth into this subject. That being said, we’re going to set things up with a few presuppositions in order to get the conversation moving. Number one, the devil, also known as Satan, is a real being. The quick grounding for this is that Jesus not only spoke about him, but directly to him. Matthew chapter 4, verses one through eleven clearly describe an interaction in which Jesus is approached and tempted by the devil while fasting in the wilderness. Our number 2 presupposition is that the devil is a created being, a spiritual being – otherwise known categorically as an Elohim – who rebelled against God and since then has led other spiritual beings as well as humans in rebellion against their Creator, as well. The specifics here are all debated within the bounds of orthodox Christianity, but pretty much everyone within the camp agrees at some level on this. A few things to point out about this presupposition: first, Elohim is translated a few different ways in the Bible. Typically, the rule is that when used in a singular tense, it is meant to be read as God, capital g. This is not a name, but a categorical title of distinction. In its plural form, Elohim is used to refer to the whole of non-corporeal, spiritual beings who exist and is often transcribed as gods, little g. This does not mean that we believe in other Gods besides Yahweh, because apart from Him there are no others. Remember, this is a categorical term for spiritual beings. God is Spirit, which is why we must worship Him in spirit and in truth. If someone says to you, “I think there’s a ghost here,” you probably aren’t thinking they’re talking about the Holy Ghost, but we do use that word to signify the particular being known as the Holy Ghost or Holy Spirit. It’s also important to recognize that the devil is created, and subject to God, the Creator. This isn’t dualism. They aren’t equal opposites, like the light side and dark side of the force. One is God, capital G, creator and sovereign over all, the other is a created spiritual being who is infinitely subordinate to the Creator.

Now that we’ve got those presuppositions established, we need to talk about kingdoms. You see, for a long time I while I was growing up in the Church, I had an idea of the way the world worked; There was the Kingdom of God – the Father, Son, and the Holy Spirit – and His Kingdom. Through the Bible, His word, He told me the right way of living and what was true to believe. Then, there was the kingdom of darkness – The devil and his demons who were trying to tempt me and lead me into destruction. But then, there was my little kingdom here in the middle. I would make choices that were contrary to what God wanted but not necessarily sinful. Like, I knew what God’s “best” for me was, but if I didn’t want to go all in, I could still believe in Him without having to go too far with it.  On the other hand, I certainly was not willfully signing on with Satan, so at least I was good on that side. I pictured these 3 pulls in my life and saw myself in the middle, deciding on a day to day, moment by moment basis if I would serve God, the devil or myself. Reading through scripture, however, revealed to me that Jesus didn’t quite have the same view of the world or my standing in it.

“Whoever is not with me is against me, and whoever does not gather with me scatters.”  - Matthew 12:30

Now, the context here, as always, is important. Jesus was being accused of casting out demons by utilizing demonic powers, to which He replies that a house divided against itself cannot stand. Then He makes things crystal clear, “But if it is by the Spirit of God that I cast out demons, then the kingdom of God has come upon you.” - v. 28. It is after this verbal smackdown that Jesus says that if you’re not with him, then you’re against Him before closing it all with an exhortation and a warning that all manner of sins will be forgiven but blasphemy of the Holy Spirit will not. Here, and in many other passages, scripture makes it explicitly clear that there are only two kingdoms – The Kingdom of Heaven, God’s people, or the Kingdom of darkness, those who choose to rebel against Him.

So, does that mean that if you are not following Jesus that you are automatically serving the devil? Kind of. You see, we often think that following Satan means becoming a Satanist, joining a cult, sacrificing goats or whatever you’ll see on any number of supernatural horror movies. The thing is, yes, those are overt ways that people will literally or even sarcastically give themselves over to be ruled by the devil – and we would argue that most of the public spectacles of apparent satanic worship that has become mainstream in the concert performances and Tiktok videos, are done with far more spite and malice against the Church and Christianity than it is true devotion to the real Satan – you don’t actually have pray or chant to him, read the satanic bible or practice witchcraft or paganism to find yourself in his service. In fact, a very effective tactic the devil uses and has used for centuries, is to get people to believe that he doesn’t exist at all. In his book, The Screwtape Letters, C. S. Lewis presents this strategy in the preface:

“There are two equal and opposite errors into which our race can fall about the devils. One is to disbelieve in their existence. The other is to believe, and to feel an excessive and unhealthy interest in them.”

― C. S. Lewis

On either side of the equation, he’s got you right where he wants you and that place is not as much about willfully and actively serving and worshiping him as it is to keep you from willfully and actively serving and worshiping God.

So, in my case, I knew the devil was real. I refused to renounce my faith as a Christian, get a pentagram tattoo and go off the devil deep end, but I also wanted to still do my life on my terms in my way. I wanted to be my own king or, more precisely, my own God. While not signing up for the Lucifer news letter, that mindset is expressly Luciferian.

You said in your heart, ‘I will ascend to heaven; above the stars of God I will set my throne on high; I will sit on the mount of assembly in the far reaches of the north; I will ascend above the heights of the clouds; I will make myself like the Most High.’ - Isaiah 14:13-14

This is the ugly face of what the theologians have identified as our “sin nature.” The sin nature is that innate desire we have to act out of our selfish desires in ways that are contrary to God’s design or to achieve something outside of God’s intended ends. In short, we want what we want and won’t take no for an answer. Now, here is where there are some differences in understanding withing the Christian camp. Some believe that a person can still be a Christian, saved from the penalty of sin, even if they go on willfully sinning for the rest of their lives because the Bible tells us that we are not saved by works – good or bad – and that we are only saved by faith through grace. In other words, John 3:16b, “Whosoever believes in Him should not perish but have eternal life.” That seems pretty straightforward, right? On the other hand, there are those who believe that if you are not obedient to the law of God then you don’t really believe, so then you are not saved.

“And by this we know that we have come to know him, if we keep his commandments. Whoever says “I know him” but does not keep his commandments is a liar, and the truth is not in him, but whoever keeps his word, in him truly the love of God is perfected. By this we may know that we are in him: whoever says he abides in him ought to walk in the same way in which he walked.”-1 John 2:3-6

To be clear, we are not saying that you are saved or not saved because of what you do. In fact, I'll go even further and say that you could unknowingly be operating in the service of Satan and even that holds no bearing on your standing in Christ. In rebuking His disciple Peter, Jesus delivered probably one of the most severe shutdowns in recorded history:

But he turned and said to Peter, “Get behind me, Satan! You are a hindrance to me. For you are not setting your mind on the things of God, but on the things of man.” - Matthew 16:23

Oof. And again, in context, this is immediately following Peter confessing Jesus as the Christ. So, was I saved when I was younger but unknowingly surrendering my services to the devil because I was ignorant of the meaning of God’s sovereignty? Yes. Do I forfeit my salvation when I sin now, knowingly or unknowingly? No. But, because I have been given a new heart and am growing in a sanctified mind, the fruit and evidence of my salvation is that I will return with repentance. Repentance is choosing to renounce the ways in which I have allied myself with the enemy and, in turn, bowing the knee, so to speak, to the one true King. It is turning away from the kingdom of darkness and stepping towards the Kingdom of God.