Citizen Columns
Citizen Columns >> Answer (December 2nd, 2006)
Question
Does the devil walk
among us and how can we tell?
Answer
The first actual conversation recorded in the Bible is with the devil.
Genesis (chapter 3) tells the story of the serpent twisting God's words, for
"he was more subtle than any other wild creature that the Lord God had
made." He convinced Eve and Adam to strike out on their own and seek
knowledge and life independent of God. The Lord had given them a Paradise
and almost everything in it, but the devil convinced them they needed more.
They weren't yet ready for the "tree of the knowledge of good and evil" but
the devil persuaded them they were. He pumped up their pride. The fruit
looked good. It was a "delight to the eyes". And the devil told them that
God was not protecting their interests but His own. God was lying to them,
he said. Perhaps Adam and Eve didn't know God well enough yet to tell who
the real liar was. But the serpent's lie led to tragedy, because human
beings found themselves on a path leading far away from the purpose for
which they were created. They were designed to share life with God, with
each other and with all the creatures of the universe in a harmonious bond
of communion. He intended them to "be like God," but with him, not without
Him. The devil promised life, but this was a lie. He was sending them to
their death, away from their creator and sustainer. As Jesus said, the devil
"was a murderer from the beginning, and has nothing to do with the truth,
because there is no truth in him? for he is a liar and the father of lies"
(John 8:44).
The account in Genesis is not history. It's a story that witnesses to a
perennial dark reality of life in this world across all times and places and
cultures. The devil does walk among us, but in subtle, often
difficult-to-discern ways, appearing as "an angel of light" (2 Cor 11:14).
The best protection is to be aware of the possibility of deception, and to
seek God's protection, light and truth. Indeed, this is the meaning of the
Lord's Prayer, "deliver us from evil," or more exactly from the Greek,
"deliver us from the evil one."
Father John Jillions
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