Forces and Personalities, Realities

Someone asked me a couple of days ago, "Do you believe in demons?" I mulled my answer over before I spoke. "Yes. I do," I said. I really meant I believe in their reality. That question caused me to do some thinking because there are some subtle differences between forces, personalities, and excuses.

In every age, even in this so called scientific age, human beings seem to find it necessary to lay blame most anywhere and on anything other than themselves. Flip Wilson in his TV show years ago made, "The devil made me do it!" a well-known sentence as he used it as an excuse in his comedy routine.

Making fun of it is okay. It gets it out in the open so that we will look at it, but it doesn't get rid of our having to deal with the reality of guilt.

Humans have blamed black magic, witches, sorcerers, vampires, werewolves and zombies for their troubles and otherwise unexplained deaths. Before that, folklore contains ogres, fire breathing, flying dragons, trolls, hydras, Circes, giants, sirens, Cyclops and Satyrs. Some of these may have a physical background in dinosaurs, but for the most part their background was simply the unexplained.

What about demons and Satan? Well, let's look at them first with the Biblical account. In Genesis 3, the serpent has been universally accepted as Satan. Satan means deceiver, or adversary. It comes from the Aramaic pronounced as we sound it except with the accent on the last syllable. Our word comes directly from the Greek without change in pronunciation. In the Old Testament it is used most often in a figurative way. About 16, or 17 times it definitely refers to the devil. The Greek word from which we get our word is diabolos and means accuser.

Jesus said, "I saw Satan fall like lightning from heaven." As far as I am concerned, Jesus spoke not of an evil influence, but of a defeated, yet powerful personality. That brings us to consider influences, or forces, and personalities.

Wind, rain, lightning, heat, and cold are all forces we have to deal with constantly. They have causes and effects that can be codified so that we can understand and handle them for the most part. Personalities think and plan actions. When we react, they can respond with a changed and unexpected plan. Forces can't do that. I believe in the reality of Satan and demons because of what Jesus said, and because reading between the lines as it were, I can see a diabolical personality behind so much in the New Testament. I see it also in history.

I think there is a difference in Satan and demons. For one thing, I think there is one Satan and there are many demons. Jesus called Peter Satan when Peter reprimanded Jesus for saying He had to die. But I believe He was saying Peter was out of character and acting like Satan. Peter obviously was not Satan. Demons are apparently lesser, disembodied beings desiring a body, and the New Testament depicts people as demon possessed. Just as evil perhaps as Satan, but they lack his ability and power. In Numbers 22:22 an angel was called to stand in opposition to the prophet Balaam. Since the Hebrew satan was translated "oppose" here, some suggest this angel rebelled against God and became Satan. I know of no proof either way other than the serpent in Genesis certainly predates this time.

I respect believers who have a differing opinion about this, but unless God changes my mind, I'll stick with what I now believe.

Laying the blame for our sins on Satan is useless. The Bible tells us we are responsible for our own sins. Laying blame for our condition on society, the weather, having to work too hard, not being well enough educated, being born in the wrong family, or any other thing won't work either. The Bible statement in Romans 6: 23 says, "For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord." Notice that it doesn't say "from," but "in" Jesus Christ our Lord. Christians are saturated not in baptismal waters, but in God's Holy Spirit. Sometimes we don't act like, but we are. As I understand it, Christians can only be tempted to sin. They cannot be forced in any way. When we sin, we do it on our own, and to keep our fellowship with God unbroken, we need to be ever ready to confess our sins to Him. In I John 1:9, He promises to restore us the moment we confess.
We don't need to worry about demons or Satan. We just need to be aware they and he are working to undo to the best of their ability what God has already done in Jesus. Rest in the assurance that what Jesus said in John 10: 27-30 is absolutely correct: "My sheep listen to my voice; I know them, and they follow me. I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; no one can snatch them out of my hand. My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all; no one can snatch them out of my Father's hand. I and the Father are one."