Kyan Swift
Published: 2019-11-13
Total Pages: 76
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Attitudes towards the devil among Christians vary between two extremes. Some ignore the devil totally, and try to act as if he is not real. Others are afraid of him and give him far more attention than he deserves. Between those two extremes there is a scriptural balance.Devil is a created being, a rebellious angel, who was cast out of God's heaven. He rules over a spiritual kingdom of evil, rebellious angels, together with lesser evil spirits, who are called "demons".The name Devil means "adversary" or "opposer". He is the unchanging, implacable enemy of God Himself and of the people and the purposes of God. His aim is to bring the whole human race under his control. His primary tactic is deception, of which he is a master. In Revelation 12:9 he is described as: the great dragon .. . that serpent of old, called the Devil and Satan, who deceives the whole world.The devil already exercises dominion over the great majority of mankind - all those who are in an attitude of rebellion against God. In Ephesians 2:2 he is described as "the spirit who now works in the sons of disobedience". Most of these have no clear picture of their real condition. They are simply driven to and fro by forces which they do not understand and cannot control.There are those among them, however, who have deliberately opened themselves up to the devil, even though they may not be aware of his true identity. In pursuit of power and material gain, they systematically cultivate the exercise of the supernatural forces Satan has released to them. Such servants of the devil are recognised in almost all cultures and have been given a variety of different titles: witch doctor, medicine man, mchawi, shaman, tohanga, wizard, witch, priest or priestess of Satan, and so on. In almost all tribal cultures throughout the world there is a special name for this kind of person.