I have observed among spiritual persons in
the Christian fellowship a tendency either to ignore the devil altogether or to
make too much of him.
Both attitudes are wrong!
There is in the world an enemy whom we dare
not ignore. We see him first in the third chapter of Genesis and last in the
twentieth of Revelation, which is to say that he was present at the beginning
of human history and will be there at its earthly close.
This enemy is not a creation of religious
fancy, not a mere personification of evil for convenience, but a being as real
as man himself. The Bible attributes to him qualities of personality too
detailed to be figurative, and reveals him speaking and acting in situations
hard and practical and far removed from the poetic imagination.
He is said to be a liar, a deceiver and a
murderer who achieves his ends by guile and trickery. While he is not
omnipresent (omnipresence being an attribute of God alone) he is ubiquitous,
which for his purpose amounts to the same thing.
Satan hates God for His own sake, and
everything that is dear to God he hates for the very reason that God loves it.
Because man was made in God’s image the hatred with which Satan regards him is
particularly malevolent, and since the Christian is doubly dear to God he is
hated by the powers of darkness with an aggravated fury.
In view of this, it cannot be less than
folly for us Christians to disregard the reality and presence of such an enemy.
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