The accents of Halloween, as practiced in America at the time of this writing, offers opportunity for me to accent the theology of Satan, both in his person and in his place in the cosmos. Literature about Satan, the chief of devils and sometimes called a devil, seems not to have made great conscious impact upon the general society. More than 90% respondents say they believe in God. Less than 50 % say they believe in a person known as Satan or Devil. The Devil, whose work seems so obvious to biblical Christians receives considerably less acknowledgment than God receives. We may accept that persons who believe in an omnipotent God would not believe in a Satan, evil as Satan is represented in Christian literature, and referred to by biblical writers. Many feel that an omnipotent God precludes any real satanic figure.
C.S. Lewis writing The Screwtape Letters, made accent on Satan and devils. The slim book came out when I was in graduate school, and was immediately popular, not only because it gave us glimpses of the patterns of nether world thinking, but it came in a somewhat humorous package. The humor did not mask the evidence, but rather made Satan real as we recognized sin in our own experiences. A point that Lewis made, to which we may latch on to after consideration, Satan is not directly in competition with God. If competition is the point he is in competition with Michael the Archangel. No one is in competition with God, in that God knows that there is no match for him. Even mankind knows that. The Lewis point is really supported through much of human history. But, this point is reserved for another page that will deal with Angelology. The point was made to the world that a respected college don believed in a real Satan. It is made a worthy project for educated analysts to follow the trails of Satanism principally in the persons attracted to the movement, and what happens to them along the way. The Christian approach is generally summarized in a faith declaration to God. The best is to be committed to God who reserves the context of the believer’s life to himself. God is with us, if we choose him as our Father and Protector. Doctrine holds that we can resist the devil, and in resistance he will depart. The concept is also cast that if we run from him, he cannot catch us. The witness we hold to Christ is quite effective if it is in the context of righteousness. Righteousness is the evidence of the truth of the witness. For some Christians (a sufficient number to make impact) the fields of apologetics, theology, scholarship, and whole life context become professional burden and opportunity. The layman’s concern is primarily through life and witness, as apologetics tends to be convincing to those who least need them. Effectiveness is not in defense, but in offense – life and witness integration. Witness is achieved through preaching, conversation, and the uses of life activity which is referred to as modeling. That, seen in the Christian life is the most convincing.
Christians who reach toward those guided by the academy must follow rigorous rules of scholarship. Even then there are limitations in that human scholarship is melded to the facts of nature. Admittedly, God is beyond nature. Presuppositions vary widely and some can’t be restricted to verifiable facts of nature. The Christian must be content with witness believing that God will woo those who will open their minds to the Gospel of Christ. It is a gospel that offers effective mortal life, as well as hope for immortal. Prayer helps in opening the minds and souls of pedestrian men and women to the redemption experience. It offers satisfaction for both mortal and immortal life. It is a story that is repeated often in every century since Christ, and with an unchanging message leading to unchanging expectations for millions upon millions of faithful believers. The volume of consistency is so great that one, at the least, ought to take into consideration the witness of safety from evil. It is above normalcy in society, above sectarian differences, above the normal expectation of nature’s context alone. In the idiom of Scripture, it is known in the phrase from Moses: Choose life. In choosing spiritual life, and advancing its promise, one is not likely to find much time for Satan. Righteousness is the burden. Even God seems to leave the management of Satan to the Angels, and they will ultimately banish that person in God’s name, for his shame against the kingdom of God, an act that attracted and distracted much of mankind – mystery. *Mark W. Lee, Sr. — 2016, 2020