Is there such a thing as the devil? Who is the devil? Where did he come from?
I think most spiritually minded people have some belief in spirits. Some people live in fear of the Devil like there is a devil behind every tree just waiting to pounce on them. Then some don’t believe there is a devil at all. Both of these positions are equally flawed and dangerous. There is a lot of misunderstanding about who the devil aka Satan is and what the extent of his power is for sure. To really answer that question we need to start by going back to a time before man and before there was an Earth.
Consider these scriptures:
Ezekiel 28:13-15, “Thou hast been in Eden the garden of God; every precious stone was thy covering, the sardius, topaz, and the diamond, the beryl, the onyx, and the jasper, the sapphire, the emerald, and the carbuncle, and gold: the workmanship of thy tabrets and of thy pipes was prepared in thee in the day that thou wast created. Thou art the anointed cherub that covereth; and I have set thee so: thou wast upon the holy mountain of God; thou hast walked up and down in the midst of the stones of fire. Thou wast perfect in thy ways from the day that thou wast created, till iniquity was found in thee.”
Isaiah 14: 12-15, “How art thou fallen from heaven, O Lucifer, son of the morning! How art thou cut down to the ground, which didst weaken the nations! For thou hast said in thine heart, I will ascend into heaven, I will exalt my throne above the stars of God: I will sit also upon the mount of the congregation, in the sides of the north: I will ascend above the heights of the clouds; I will be like the most High. Yet thou shalt be brought down to hell, to the sides of the pit.”
Luke 10: 18, “And he said unto them, I beheld Satan as lightning fall from heaven.”
Revelation 12: 3-4, “And there appeared another wonder in heaven; and behold a great red dragon, having seven heads and ten horns, and seven crowns upon his heads. And his tail drew the third part of the stars of heaven, and did cast them to the earth:”
By these scriptures, we can gather that originally Satan was an angel in heaven known as Lucifer.
He was the archangel and praise leader in heaven. He was the most beautiful angel. No other place is there in the scriptures that refers to an anointed cherub. He apparently held a high rank in heaven as far as angels go. He decided in his pride that he was going to rule and take over God’s throne and apparently persuaded a third of the angels in heaven to rebel with him. For his rebellion, he and the angels that rebelled with him were cast out of heaven. He and these angels became disembodied spirits that we now know as demons.
Angels have freedom of choice just like we do but we have the opportunity to repent and be saved, they do not. How foolish of Lucifer, a created being, to think he could rebel against an almighty, all-powerful God. So, let me get this straight.
There is no duality in the universe. God and the devil are not equal beings duking it out for control of the universe.
Satan is a fallen, defeated, created being. The Father, Son and Holy Ghost are in charge, always have been and always will be! Nothing the devil does or that we do for that matter takes God by surprise. Nothing! All will work out in the end for His glory. Just read the end of the Bible. God the Creator wins!
Satan probably thought he had won when Jesus was crucified, but you know what? It was all part of God’s plan.
Satan didn’t crucify Jesus anyway, read this. These are Jesus’ own words.: “Therefore doth my Father love me, because I lay down my life, that I might take it again. No man taketh it from me, but I lay it down of myself. I have power to lay it down, and I have power to take it again. This commandment have I received of my Father.” (John 10:17-18). God is in control! Satan caused the entire human race to fall when he caused Adam and Eve to fall but Jesus redeemed mankind back. Jesus was the second Adam. Through Him, we may be saved, Hallelujah!
Satan is defeated and we have authority over him.
He is not over us! He has been put under our feet as the body of Christ, as prophesied in Genesis 3:15 . Ephesians 1:22 says, “And hath put all things under his feet, and gave him (Christ) to be the head over all things to the church”. Luke 10:19 says, “Behold, I give unto you power to tread on serpents and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy: and nothing shall by any means hurt you.” Sure, he is a formidable foe but we need not fear him. God showed me one time when we walk into a room that every demon in that room is trembling when we walk in and just waiting to see what we are going to do. And most of the time they breathe a sigh of relief when we do nothing. God spoke to me and said we need to nurture this kind of awareness that when we walk into a room to know the demons are quaking in fear and take authority over them when we enter the room. Bind them (Matthew 18:18) and cast them out (Mark 16:17).
The only power he has over us is what we give him or that God allows.
Satan is our foe nonetheless and we would be wise to learn about our enemy and how to battle him. He is not to be taken for granted but neither is he to be feared. 1 Peter 5: 8 says “Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour:” It should be noted that he walks about ‘as a roaring lion’. He is not a roaring lion, he walks about ‘as a roaring lion’. I really want to keep things in perspective here. We shouldn’t just take the devil for granted and blow him off like he is nothing but at the same rate too we need to keep in mind who he really is, a defeated foe and under our feet. Satan would like to keep us scared to death all the time and make us think he is a roaring lion that is going to devour us. That is why Peter says in this verse to be sober. He isn’t necessarily talking about being drunk on alcohol here. He is telling us not to get drunk on fear, misinformation or even swing too much the other way and be haughty and not beware of the devil’s devices.
So how does the enemy approach us?
2 Corinthians 11:14 tells us, “And no marvel; for Satan himself is transformed into an angel of light.” Does that mean he will literally appear as an angel of light. It is possible but not likely. What this verse means is he is going to appear in a form that does not frighten us, in a form that appeals to us, in a form we will be tempted by. You ever notice how in cigarette or alcohol ads you never see the person dying of emphysema from smoking too much or some innocent dead on the highway because of a drunk driver? No, the people in ads are always healthy, happy and got it all. Probably, truth be known, most of those actors don’t even smoke. Anyway, that is the way the enemy comes to you to tempt you. He never shows you the consequences. He is only going to tempt you with something he thinks will tempt you. And for sure he doesn’t appear in a red suit, pitchfork, pointed tail and horns!
Have no doubt though. You are in a spiritual battle, Satan and his demons want to see you fall. They want to see you go to hell not heaven.
2 Corinthians 10:3-6, “For though we walk in the flesh, we do not war after the flesh: (For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty through God to the pulling down of strong holds;) Casting down imaginations, and every high thing that exalteth itself against the knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ; And having in a readiness to revenge all disobedience, when your obedience is fulfilled.“ Wow. Take some time to concentrate and meditate on those verses awhile. You can’t fight the enemy with fleshly weapons! In other words, all your positive thinking or just going to church or changing this or that isn’t going to win the battle.
Satan is not omnipresent but he has a well organized kingdom.
When Apostle Paul describes our enemy, he says he isn’t flesh and blood. He goes on to tell us he has a very well-organized kingdom. Satan and his demons are not omnipresent. They are not everywhere at the same time as God is but Satan is well organized and has demon princes, if you will, over different territories and over different people. Satan loves to imitate God. He isn’t omnipresent but sure makes a lot of people think he is by being so well organized. Paul then tells us to take the whole armor of God in Ephesians 6:10-18. THE WHOLE ARMOR OF GOD. You can’t just have some of it on. The knights of old and the Roman soldiers of Paul’s time knew that if there were a part of them that was not covered by armor and defended in some way that was where the enemy might strike a blow against them. Same with us. We need the whole armor of God and then as this verse says we make our stand and even when we have done all we can do we still make a stand. Our stand is trust in God and in the weapons He has given us.
I think the worst enemy we have most of the time though is ourselves.
I think sometimes God allows us to go through some things until we learn to rest in Him and to be at peace. Give it to God. As long as you want to fight it yourself God will let you. As long as you fight it the way you think it ought to be fought using all those weapons of the flesh you won’t do anything but get worn out. Sure, it may not be easy but the Bible says God laughs at his enemies (Psalms 2:4). We have to find that place where we can have joy in the midst of our problems. The joy of the Lord is our strength. What does that tell you? If the devil can rob you of your joy, he robs you of your strength. Why do you think he works so hard at stealing our joy?
Listen to this Meditation recoded about the authority we have as a believer in Christ
I heard a preacher make a very profound statement on spiritual warfare that was so simple yet so powerful and it was this: “Spiritual warfare in its simplest form is when the enemy comes against you and you don’t react the way he wants you to.” When he comes against you with fear, don’t be afraid. When he comes against you with worry, don’t worry. Stay steadfast, and focused. “Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on thee: because he trusteth in thee. “ (Isaiah 26:3)
Want to learn more? Check out my book ‘Things I Wish Someone Would Have Told Me When I Became A Christian’
“What are the moanings and growlings we sometimes feel? What do you do when you feel you are in the grip of something evil? What is it? How do I explain it?
You must understand children. Every moment sends pains of travail throughout the Earth. All of creation senses and reacts to such moments in time as these as one who is about to give birth. This travail is like an energy sensed by all created things. Some sense it and rejoice, others sense it and don’t understand but there are also those forces who sense it and fear it for they know it signals an end to their reign. Their power is only an illusion for no darkness can stand when the light has come. Yet they will rail and resist. This is what you feel at times. These are not necessarily spirit beings but the resistance and rebellion of evil as it senses that which is stronger than they. Never fear these forces. They are deluded and have no power at all except that which you give them by your fear. Never give your power away. Never! “—Benjamin Raven Pressley
“A Devil By Any Other Name | What are other names for the Devil?
Satan, the Devil is a real entity and enemy of our souls but here is a list of names and terms used for “the devil” or evil adversarial beings in Christianity and other faiths, grouped by tradition and with brief explanations:
Christianity
Judaism
Zoroastrianism
Hinduism
Buddhism
Other Traditions
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